We Sort of Ran Into Each Other
by DeniquaNFrye
Summary: Lydia has liked Stiles since the 5th grade, but has been too shy to do anything about it. It's her Senior year and she makes a pact with Allison that they will make it their year. Stiles has been protecting Lydia going on two years from supernatural threats unbeknownst to her. When Isaac breaks the rules and talks to Allison Stiles is forced to interact with Lydia.
1. We Sort of Ran Into Each Other

Lydia's POV:

It was the first day of senior year as Allison and I walked down the halls of Beacon Hills. Like every year I was nervous because I didn't know where my classes were and because of _Him._ Stiles Stilinksi. Every time I see him I get butterflies in my stomach and I feel like I'm going to throw up, which wasn't very attractive to be around. Allison was no better with her _Him._ Isaac Lahey. We've been here for hours and we haven't seen them yet, which gave me a little more time to tell myself that this year would be different.

Don't get me wrong, I tried to talk to him before in fifth grade and it didn't go so well. Ever since then I couldn't get the courage to even cross his path. Pathetic, right? My therapist thinks so. Just to be clear, he's not the only reason I have a therapist.

"You know, I think this year is going to be good for us. We have new looks and new personalities to match." Allison said hopefully as we put our stuff in our lockers. The first three periods were a bore.

Over the summer we made a pact that senior year would mean something to us, and that we would at least try to have fun. She was off to a better start than I was. Her long dark brown locks were cut to shoulder length and lightened to a sandy blonde with dark lowlights. I, on the other hand, kept my ordinary strawberry blonde locks the same length and color. This morning I dared myself to curl it instead of leaving it in a messy bun or letting it hang down all plain like.

She hip-bumped me just as we turned a corner, knocking me into someone. Our items fell to the floor. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry." I bent to pick up our stuff, but other hands beat me to it.

"No, it's okay." A familiar voice said.

I stilled, looking up at _Him_.

His cinnamon colored eyes looked into my green ones as I rose. "No, it-It's my fault." He apologized, seeming confused. "Uh, you're okay, right?"

A nervous laugh bubbled from my mouth. "Yeah, thanks." I tried not to smile my face off so he wouldn't think I was psychotic.

The bell rung, letting us know we needed to head to fourth period. I tried to side step him, but he did the same, we repeated the same pattern, bringing out bodies closer than I ever thought possible. I felt the butterflies in my stomach flapping to get free. He smiled down at me before moving out the way.

I headed to my class in a daze.

"I can't believe that just happened!" Allison smacked my ass. "You're welcome for that smile on your face."

She was right, but I didn't want to make a big deal about it because it would probably never happen again, and I didn't want to fantasize about it the whole day just to be let down that he barely registered me as a person. I was protecting myself.

"You could've flirted a little harder, you know." She commented.

"Yeah, well you have yet to see Isaac, so I don't want to hear it." I teased as we walked to our fourth period together.

She applied some of her faint pint lip stain that she handed to me to put on. "You know, the moment I see Isaac Lahey he won't forget it." She laughed at the face I was giving her. "Come on, Lydia. What did we say this year was going to be? Fun, as in tonight we are young."

Again, she was right. I really needed to learn how to loosen up. Besides there were other guys out there. None of which have yet to cause the same reaction as Stiles did, but still. I've come close once, but that was done with. If I didn't put myself out there what did I expect to gain?

She smiled at me. "You know I'm right. So tonight we are going to the Twins' party, we're going to dance, and we're going to have fun." She said enthusiastically.

"Ok, that might be taking it a bit far. It's the first day of school."

She rolled her eyes. "Meaning it's the best time to leave our mark." She huffed. "You know I don't care about any of this popularity crap, but I don't want to look back on my life and wonder what would've happened if we lived a little."

We entered the classroom, heading for the middle of the room. I gave her a smile. "You win." I ran my fingers through my hair as I took my seat, crossing my bare legs under the desk. Allison took her seat beside me with a wide eyes. "What?" I asked.

She suppressed a laugh as she texted me. _Whatever you do, don't look to your right. _

Like the rebel I so obviously was, I looked. There sat Stiles Stilinski talking to Isaac Lahey, who happened to look at me with a smile. Stiles turned to see what had caught Isaac's attention and our eyes met. I turned toward Allison who had an amused grin on her face. "I hate you." I whispered.

"You love me." She blew me a kiss.

How was she not nervous with Isaac in the same room, who happened to be sitting on the other side of her? She didn't even flinch. I texted her. _What are you doing? He's sitting right next to you._

_Playing hard to get_, she texted back. She started talking to some girl in front of her, knowing that Isaac was paying every bit of attention to her. Why couldn't I be like that? My nerves threatened to overtake me as I told myself that Stiles probably already forgot who I was, so there was no real reason to be nervous. He'd never talk to me again.

Mr. Harris, our biology teacher, came in just before the bell rung with a scowl on his face. He went on about something that I didn't bother to listen to. I was too focused on not looking stupid in front of Stiles. I dared to peep at him, he was writing in his notebook looking adorable as he tried to get down everything Harris said.

He looked up to see me staring at him. My initial thought was to look away as fast I could, but instead I grinned at him. He just stared at me like I had two heads, so pretended to focus on Harris until the bell rung.

Lunch time. Thank God, I'm starving. Allison and I walked arm in arm as we headed to the cafeteria. "What happened with Isaac?"

She smiled. "He introduced himself, as if I didn't know who he was."

"And?"

"And I ignored him after I told my name. I made sure to smile at him."

I laughed at how good she became at this all of a sudden. "You had more luck than I did. Stiles just stared at me."

She grinned. "That's because he was too stunned by your beauty."

Now that was ridiculous. "Okay, someone's let their momentary highness go to their head."

We grabbed our lunch then headed outside because that's where you sat when you didn't give a fuck, which was more of Allison's idea. She just knew that Stiles and Isaac would demand to eat with us just because they sat outside, and we happen to be sitting at their usual table. I didn't have the heart to tell her she being optimistically naïve because I didn't want her to get bad again. When she was bad she was bad.

"So how are we getting inviting to this party?" I asked.

She eyed the Twins as I began eating my cheeseburger and fries. "Don't worry. I feel confident enough in my feminine prowess to work something out." Just as she said that she caught Aiden's eye, and he began checking her out.

I couldn't hold back my laughter. "Are you serious? It can't be that easy."

"What can't be that easy?" An unfamiliar voice asked from behind us.

We both looked to see Isaac with a smirk on his face and Stiles looking bored as they sat at the table with us. My burger was on its way up my throat, I already knew it. How else could I embarrass myself in front of him today?

"You guys are going to Ethan and Aiden's party tonight, right?" She asked.

He smiled at her. "Yeah, you want to come with us?"

"Sure, we were going anyway." She picked at her salad.

Stiles met my eyes. "What's your name?"

My voice caught in my throat, "Lydia."

"Lydia Martin?" Isaac asked me with intrigued eyes.

I nodded. "Yeah, why? You know something I don't?"

He grinned as he looked at Stiles. "Nothing. You just sounded familiar." He turned his attention back to Allison.

Stiles sat closer to me. "I'm Stiles."

I tried to hold back my smile, but I couldn't. "I know."

His brow arched.

"We sort of ran into each other earlier. I saw your name on composition book."

He made a face that I laughed at. "Oh."

STILES' POV:

When I told Isaac that I ran into Lydia earlier he almost shit himself. And with good reason. She was the one person that I was not supposed to interact with. I had specific orders not to. Now I was sitting across from her at our lunch table while Isaac couldn't keep his testerone in check and leave Allison alone. He knew exactly who she was, and I knew exactly who Lydia was. They just didn't know who they were. It wasn't our jobs to interact with them, just watch over them. I made the mistake of getting attached to Lydia. She was just so beautiful and fair. I could easily pick her out from a crowd, even before she underwent her one-eighty appearance, which made her seem even more forbidden.

I remember growing up with her in grade school, and then this thing happened to Isaac and I that changed us and suddenly it was all about her. At first, I didn't mind it, but then it got to the point where I was daydreaming about her. Looking at her eat her burger now felt surreal. I didn't know what to say; I wanted to impress her, but I should be pushing her away. Damn Isaac for wanting what he can't have.

"So, Stiles…" Lydia trailed off while looking into my eyes. "Are you going to eat those curly fries over there?"

Hell, I wanted them, but she could have it. "No, I actually got them in hopes you would ask for them." I joked, which smiled at as I slid the fries her way.

What did I just do? I tried to call myself down by saying they were just fries, but this was so much more than that, then I heard Deucalion's voice in my head. I shot up from my seat. "I'm sorry, I forgot I have to do something."

Isaac stopped me before I got to the door, which was a good distance away from the table the girls were sitting at. "Hey, what's wrong with you?" He whispered.

Was he kidding? "Isaac, you know what's wrong. Think of all the things Deucalion will do to us if he finds out this went down! You know firsthand what he's capable of." I gave a pointed look at the girls, accidently locking eyes with Lydia before looking back at Isaac. "We can't be seen with them, not unless you want to get what happened last time." I turned.

"Wait." He grabbed my arm.

I yanked it away. "Fix it, Isaac or I will and it won't be pretty." I threatened before walking away.


	2. UpdateNotice

Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that I updated chapter 1, I took Jackson out, and made it longer. I wasn't sure if you would get notified that I changed it or not, so I wanted to make sure you guys knew and wouldn't be confused by chapter 2. Please let me know what you think of the change. :) Thanks for reading.


	3. She Was Hurting

I flopped down on Deucalion's couch, trying to figure out how long we were supposed to keep this up. Hands ran down my body. "What are you doing here?" Cora asked. Her dark brown hair was in a high bun. She wore a black tank top with light blue shorts.

"Where's Deucalion?" I asked.

She kissed my neck. "I don't know, but it's been awhile." She smiled seductively up at me with her coffee colored eyes.

It has. I flipped her over, so she was underneath me. "You didn't get enough last time?" I grinned.

And she laughed while pushing me away. "Oh, God. That was terrible."

I smiled at her. "Hey, I'm not having a good day. Cut me some slack."

She playfully nudged my shoulder. "What's wrong?" She studied my expression. "Is it Lydia again?" Before I could say anything, she cut me off. "Stiles, what's with this chick? I mean, she doesn't even know you exist. She's never spoken a word to you. How smart can she be? Doesn't she know how amazing you are?"

I wanted to tell her about today, but I also got the feeling that she had feelings for Isaac and I didn't want to sell him out. Especially, when Isaac had a thing for Cora. I didn't want to be the cause of that love triangle.

"Something happened today, didn't it?" She asked as she propped her head in her hand that rested on the couch. She could tell I wasn't going to give it any information up. She could tell I was hiding something big for her. "Did he talk to her today?"

I remained silent.

She sighed. "He can do whatever he wants. He doesn't even know I like him, so…" She headed for the door, but I grabbed her wrist.

"Hey, cut him some slack. It's the whole forbidden fruit thing. He can never be with her."

"Until Deucalion says they're ready."

I let her go. The next thing I heard was the blender going. I groaned and headed to the kitchen. She was leaning over with her hands on the counter. I pulled the blender out of plug.

"Why'd you do that?" She asked.

I helped her up and brought her to my side. "Because I know that you're going to regret that milkshake in about an hour. And I know that you're going to purge. I know you're going to cry yourself to sleep."

She looks up at me with lost eyes, her lip trembling. "I thought I was getting better, but…"

My hand held her face in my hand. "Cora, you're beautiful. Okay?" I watched as her first tear slid down her cheek. "I know that you don't see it, I know that you think you're fat, but you're not. Guys notice, okay? I notice you. Isaac notices you. You're perfect. You need to know that."

She was shaking her head, denying everything that I just assured her of. She was hurting and I felt useless. The thing about Cora was that she was really good at her job, but when it came to her personal life she was a near wreck. Her older brother, Derek, is constantly worrying about her. He does everything he can to make her feel better, but it obviously only goes so far. She rested her head on my shoulder. "You're the only one that gets me."

I kissed the top of her head. She was truly my best friend. She worried the shit out of me, but nothing felt better than making her smile. When she did and it reached her eyes she was truly gorgeous. Sometimes I wondered why I couldn't be in love with her and vice versa. If I was the one that she was in love with and I constantly made her feel like she was top shelf wine she'd be better. Maybe that was sexist to think I could change her.

"Let's go for a drive." I encouraged.

She untangled from me with a slight smile. "I'm not wearing that bikini. That did not help last time."

"Come on. You look hot in it." I followed her to her room. The bright light shown in through her floor to ceiling windows. She kept it very clean, everything was very white with a few light turquoise elements. I've always liked how simple yet special she was. She went into her closet. "You really don't know where Deucalion is?" I played with a blue and brown beaded bracelet I got her for her nineteenth birthday a few months back.

"If I knew where he was I'd tell you." She came out in jeans and a short sleeved tshirt. She saw my displeased look. "What? I'm not picking up guys or anything."

I lead her back into her closet and picked out a pair of jeans shorts and a pink bikini top and threw it at her. "If I saw you on the boardwalk I'd want you in that." She gave me a look I ignored while walking out of the closet. "For the last time, you're not fat. Show some skin when you leave the house."

When we got to the city it became obvious that she couldn't see the guys checking her out. She was too worried about how she looked in the bikini top. "What are you staring at?" She asked me.

"I swear sometimes you forget I'm a guy." I sincerely told her.

She laughed. "No, I don't." She pinched my cheeks. "How can I when you're so cute?"

I smacked her hand away with a grin on my face. "Yeah, okay."

A few minutes later I parked and we walked up and down the boardwalk. She walked with her arms across her stomach, and it was obvious that she was trying to hide herself. I yanked her arms away. "Stop it."

She shot me a glare. "I can't help it. I just feel so uncomfortable. Why'd I let you talk me into this?" She smoothed her hair back as a breeze ruffled it.

I huffed. "I'll make you a deal. If a guy doesn't hit on you before we get to the smoothie place then I'll buy you a cover up."

She pursed her lips. "You drive a hard bargain, kid." She liked to joke that I was a baby because of our age difference, which was only a year and some months.

I slapped her ass and she pushed me away with a fake angry look on her face.

"Hey, is this guy bothering you?" A tall, tan, and buff type asked Cora.

I gave her a look. She rolled her eyes. "No." She gave him a small smile. "We were just playing around."

He looked disappointed. "Is he your boyfriend?" He asked bluntly.

"No." We said simultaneously. "We're just friends." She continued. I wasn't sure if she could tell he was hitting on her, she had a terrible radar for those kinds of things.

He took a step closer. "So would you mind if I got your number?"

She got this frightened look in her eyes that I tried not to laugh at. "Uh, sure." They stepped to the side and took care of business. He walked away with a smile on his face.

We headed for the smoothie place. "You know this means you're not getting that cover up, right?"

She kicked me directly in the ass. "Shut up."

I laughed, satisfied with myself. "You know that guys going to call you, right?"

She shrugged. "Doubtful. He'll probably forget about it as soon as some blonde girl smiles at him."

The remnants of my laugh disappeared. "Cora, you need to stop doing this to yourself." I shoved my hands in my pocket. "I want you to realize how great you are. You don't need Isaac to feel better about yourself. He's not the smartest guy when it comes to girls. He didn't even notice that Allison has liked him for forever. I'm sure if he knew that you liked him he would be thrilled."

She gave me a look. "Did he say something?" Hope in her voice.

I shook my head. "I'm just saying. Make him notice you and if it doesn't work out then move on."

"Easier said than done."

"Yeah, I know." I agreed.

Surf City Squeeze wasn't too packed, so we got our smoothies then went to sit on the beach. I took of my shirt hoping that I'd get a tan. I burned rather easily. "So I know you're holding out on me. " She took a sip of her smoothie. "What happened with Lydia today?"

I couldn't ignore the question forever. I'd have to talk with Deucalion about it regardless. "We sort of ran into each other, literally. And I froze when I saw it was her. She looked different, her hair was pretty and she wore a dress. She looked happy. When she saw me, she didn't. I don't know, I just get the feeling she doesn't like me. I mean, Isaac and I were talking and then she was sitting beside me and when she looked at me she immediately looked away. So I took that as a slap in the face. Then Isaac goes over to sit with them at lunch," I shut up, realizing I said too much. She waved it off. "She took my fries and I don't know what to make of it. I know I shouldn't read anything into it because I'm not supposed to, but…" I trailed off.

"But it's Lydia." She finished for me. "You know at some point you're going to have to interact with her. She's going to know all about us and what we do, and she's going to be one of us. So what I propose is don't beat yourself up about it. She'd be crazy not to be in love with you."

I took a huge gulp of my smoothie, then regretted it. My hand went to my forehead as I groaned. "Fuck."

She laughed. "You'd think you have learned your lesson by now." Her hands grabbed my head, rubbing her fingers over her temple. She had this overly impressive ability to heal things. Sometimes she let it go to her head. My brain freeze was subsiding as she looked into my eyes. Then there was something different about us being this close. I wasn't sure what it was, when she was kissing my neck earlier I didn't feel it. Now it was just something different about her, about us. Maybe it was the breeze blowing her sweet scent my way or the way the sun made her hair glow. I could tell she felt it, too. But it was me who closed the distance that let my lips tug on hers. She was skeptical, but responded and that made all the difference. The kiss was good, there was a spark that we hadn't felt before, but at the same time we weren't supposed to be doing this.

She pulled away, her cheeks flushed.

"Well, that was sufficiently awkward." I pointed out as we laughed.

"Worst idea we've ever had."

"Ouch." We continued to laugh as we silently came to the conclusion that the kiss should have not happened. She loved Isaac and I liked Lydia.

It was dark when we headed back into town after doing some shopping. The kiss was still kind of hanging between us, but we weren't going to talk about it because we both knew as soon as she saw Isaac the kiss wouldn't matter, and I was okay with that.

We knew something was up when we walked into the house. "What is going on?" She asked as we tried to find everyone.

"In here." Deucalion said from his office.

Isaac was perched on the edge of his desk with a neutral expression. Deucalion on the other hand didn't look too pleased. Cora let go of my hand, knowing Isaac was staring at it.

"What's up?" I asked.

"We've got trouble." Deucalion said. "They're here."

Cora and I shared a confused look. "Who?" She asked.

He rose. "The Alpha Pack. They're here and there's no way they're going to overlook Lydia and Allison."

"Okay. Then we bring them in." Problem solved.

Deucalion agreed and we made a plan.

When I headed for the door Isaac called to me. "There's more. Scott's with them."

I stilled. What? There was no way. "He wouldn't be a part of that."

"He's the one leading them." He said.


	4. We Get Along Well

"Would you stop being a baby?" Allison chided me. "Put your ass in that mini skirt or so help me, God."

I made a face at her as I put on the pale pink mini skirt along with a white floral blouse under a light jean jacket with a pair of nude colored peep toe heels. Allison wore a grey and black print tank under her new green and black jacket, a pair of dark jeans and black leather boots that stopped below her knee. She looked hot.

"I'm sure that Stiles doesn't hate you, okay?"

I made an unconvinced noise. "How do you explain that plain as day I hate you look he gave me when he was talking to Isaac? Why bother looking my way at all?" I put on some pink lip stain while Allison put on some red. She was being really bold and I wondered how long before she gets bad again. Not that I wanted her to.

"I didn't see that look, but I'm sure it doesn't mean what you think it does. I mean, did you not see him drooling over you when you bumped into each other? Now that I saw."

My eyes rolled on their own. "Not true. He was freaked out he bumped into me, that's all. Plus, he's always with that girl."

"You mean the really pretty one with the dark hair that I want?" She asked as I gave her a look. "I mean, it's limp and dry looking." She tried to recover, but we busted out in laughter. "I'm sorry."

I waved it off because I didn't want to seem insecure.

She flopped down on my bed. "She's only with him outside of school, and we've only seen her like five times. Maybe their related."

"Doubt it. Have you seen how they are together? I mean, they seem more than friends…" I turned toward Allison.

"You're delusional, babe. He wants you."

I couldn't help but smile at her flippant attitude, no matter how wrong she was it was still nice to have so much optimism come from one of us. Our lives were shit. My dead beat dad was nowhere to be found, and my mom was always away on business. Allison's mom committed suicide last year and her dad was rarely in the house to even avoid talking about it. We were all each other had. We were each other's family.

She came to wrap her arms around me as we looked into my floor length mirror. "Let's go. If you don't want to hang out with them at the party then we won't. Okay?"

"Okay."

Allison was talking about something I wasn't listening to because I was so into my own thoughts when I saw something running in the woods that caught my eye. My first instinct was that it was an animal, but it sort of looked human. I couldn't see very well past all the trees, especially when the figure was receding into the woods.

Well, that was weird.

Then I heard a really loud growl and stilled.

Allison swerved the car, managing to get us back on track. She looked at me. "Did you hear that?"

I nodded afraid to move. "Yeah. It was probably a bear or something." Whatever it was, we hurried to the party, ready to be immersed into a group of people. I instinctively scanned the crowd for Stiles, knowing that wherever he was I was headed in the opposite direction. He made it clear he didn't want to be near me. I could still see the look in his eye, it made me want to cry.

Allison led me through the house, passing by the twins on purpose. They stopped talking the group of people surrounding them and followed us. "Hey," One of them grabbed my wrists gently. "You're Lydia, right?" He let go of my wrist. I could never tell them apart, both had the same dirty blonde hair cute, the same smile, and the same amazing physique.

I nodded. I knew I shouldn't be nervous because I didn't like them, but they were still very attractive.

He smiled. "I'm Ethan."

I gave him a small smile before looking at Allison who was flirting shamelessly with who must be Aiden. I turned back to him not sure what to say.

He leaned against the island behind our backs in a friendly manor. "This is your first party, isn't it?"

I relaxed for some reason. He didn't seem like he was hitting on me. "That obvious?" I asked, leaning back.

He nodded and smiled in a way that made me smile in return. "Did your friend drag you out here?"

"Why do you say that? I don't look like I'm having fun?" I raised my brow.

His lips pursed. "You look out of place." He grabbed a pretzel from behind us, the tabletop full of snacks. "You look like you don't feel comfortable here."

He was right. I've never associate myself with any of the people in here, and I felt like they all knew it. I felt as if they keep staring at me when I'm not looking. "That's because I'm a poser."

He laughed, picking up on my joke. He had a nice laugh, not one that I would fall in love with, but still nice. It met his brown eyes. There was nothing seemingly special about the color, not like Stiles' cinnamon eyes. "No, I think you fit in. You've got that innocent and real thing going on, it's cool."

I grinned at his compliment, picking up a pretzel, and then scanning the room.

"Looking for Stilinksi?" He asked.

My body froze. How did he know that? I doubt he could read minds. "Excuse me?"

"I saw you two at lunch. It was all very tense. Not hard to guess what's going on there." His brow rose, expecting an answer. He got one because he wasn't asking out of jealousy, but out of pure curiosity.

I sighed. "There's nothing going on between me and Stiles." I assured him. I mean, there wasn't, so I had no reason to indicate that I had feelings for him. He wouldn't care if I told him how I felt. "Would about you?"

Ethan met my eyes. "Am I looking for somebody?"

Not what I meant, but a valid question. "Yeah."

"Aren't we always?" We shared a long look. I understood that he was being nice to me because he wanted something from me. Friendship. And vice versa.

I smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"That would be a first." He opened the fridge and handed me a can of soda and himself a bottle of water.

"Thanks." He nodded. I eyed him take a sip of water. "You don't drink, do you?"

He raised his bottle. "Not that good stuff. But it's purely out of vain. My body is a temple and I can't afford the suck back hundreds of calories just for a good time."

I laughed at his philosophy. There was nothing wrong with it, it was just different than most. I liked it. "How'd you know I don't drink?"

He grinned. "Maybe by the way you didn't head for the punch as soon as you got here."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

He raised his bottle.

I looked around for Allison, not finding her. Panic rose in me. This was her first party, too. What if something happens to her?

"Relax, my brother's not a rapist. I promise."

My eyes narrowed. "Isn't that what they all say?"

His lips pursed again, making him look smarter. Then he led me by the small of my back through the house until we found her smiling up at Isaac with no Aiden in sight. If Isaac was here then Stiles must be here, too.

Ethan leaned down so that his mouth was next to me ear. "Looking for him again?"

Was I? I didn't mean to. I met his eyes. "Nope." I turned to walk right into Stiles. This time because I knew it was him I backed away quickly. "Sorry."

"Sorry." She apologized. All I could do was stare at her. She was even more beautiful than I remembered. She looked so soft and sweet. Then I spotted Ethan's hand on her back with no objection from her. Were they together? I mean, this was his party and she was really attractive. Why wouldn't he want Lydia on his arm?

I was ready to move out of the way when she stepped in front of me again. We were practically replaying the scene from earlier today. Her mossy green eyes looked expectantly into mine, asking me to move out of their way. I moved to the right, as did she. Heat radiated between us. We were close enough now that I could kiss her easily, but I didn't think that was a good idea. I'm quite sure that she would slap me and Ethan would beat the crap out of me. "Uh, sorry." I backed up.

She gave me a look I couldn't decipher before walking off with Ethan. Great, she hates me and she's with Ethan. He said something to her with a hint of a smile on his lips causing her to playfully push him. When had this happened? As long as I've been protecting Lydia I've never seen her bat an eye at Ethan or Aiden. The only time I saw him notice her was at lunch today. Was he planning on using her? I barely knew Ethan or Aiden, but they seemed like nice guys. Aiden was a bit hot headed at times, but he was also a star athlete and his parents were going through a divorce that everyone seemed to know about. Ethan was the calm one, top of our class. He wasn't on any sports teams, but he took pride in his body. I only knew that because he was known for doing yoga with some of the girls. Honestly, I didn't think he would hurt Lydia, but I still felt like he was a threat, which was probably my jealousy taking over. Why hadn't I brought Cora for moral support?

I turned away from the happy couple and made my way back to Isaac who by the looks of it was already explaining to Allison that they had she was in danger. What the hell was he doing? She looked angry and disbelieving. I would be, too. Who would believe that pack of werewolves were after them? Especially if they were told by a person they met a few hours ago. She looked about ready to leave, but then I put my hand on her shoulder. She looked at me pleadingly. "Please, believe us." I could tell that Isaac was buzzed, he started drinking before we left.

"Why should I?" She pulled away from me, searching for Lydia who was still flirting with Ethan. Her smile bright and beautiful. Jealousy ran through me.

"Because if you don't then you'd be putting Lydia in danger."

She stopped, then slowly turned back to me. "What'd you say?"

"I said, you'd be putting her in danger." I angrily whispered, grabbed her arm and bringing her upstairs with Isaac in tow. We managed to find the bathroom empty.

She yanked her arm away. "Okay, hands off."

"Look, you weren't supposed to find out this way, no thanks to Isaac's drunk ass." He smirked. I rolled my eyes. "Believe me when I say that you both are in very real danger."

She nodded. "You mean werewolf danger?" She tried to fight a smile.

Isaac's eyes turned a burning yellow as his facial hair extended and his claws came out. "Yeah."

She looked at him, horrified.

"Please don't scream." I begged.

She backed away, clutching her hand over her mouth.

"Boo." Isaac muttered as he came near her.

Her hand suppressed her scream.

"Isaac." I chastised him.

"What? It's fun. She doesn't know what she is. We were never really sure if she knew, and now I know." He changed back to normal. "We're not going to hurt you."

There were tears in her eyes. Isaac must've scared the shit out of her. "Why are you telling me this? Who are you? If you lay a finger on Lydia I'll kill you myself." She promised.

I smiled, hoping it didn't creep her out. "I'm the last person that would hurt Lydia."

Now she was smiling and it was creeping me out. "You like her, don't you." It was more of a statement than a question the way she said it.

Isaac coughed into his hand and muttered, "Understatement," under his breath.

"Dude." I gave him a look that made Allison laugh.

"I knew it." She said. Would she tell Lydia? Then I would be really embarrassed. "Don't worry, I won't tell. If you promise to do everything you can to protect her."

"You don't seem very concerned for your own safety." Isaac pointed out. He was right. The only thing that made her believe was her friendship with Lydia. They might as well be blood sisters.

She shrugged. "Your point?"

I could tell that this was going to be something between them, more than flirting with each other in the mundane teenage way. My thoughts went to Cora. I wanted her to grow up and find someone else because she wouldn't survive a love triangle with Isaac and Allison. Not when Allison was already so headstrong and Isaac was attracted to her the way he was. I thought back to the kiss. It really was nice, and I felt it in my stomach, but we weren't right for each other. We couldn't be.

Isaac's talking brought me back to them. "-Protect you. I promise."

I stepped forward. "Look," She met my eyes. "You weren't supposed to find out this way, not until Deucalion summoned you."

"Summons me? He sounds like the bad guy." She put her hand on hip.

"You have him to thank for being able to sleep safely."

Her brow furrowed. "Since when?

I took a step toward her. "Does it matter? We've been looking out for you and that's all you need to know. So what I suggest that you do is pretend you didn't have this conversation with us. Pretend that you don't trust us to keep Lydia away. Do whatever you have to keep her safe. There's only so much we can do."

"Okay." She nodded, before leaving she turned back to us. "They're here already, aren't they?"

How would she know that?

"We heard a really loud growl earlier, so we rushed here. We didn't think anything of it, but it was pretty menacing. Do you think they were after us?"

I shrugged, not sure how to tell her that they wouldn't hurt or Lydia if they didn't know about them. They only way they would know is if they heard Lydia scream, and even I haven't heard her scream and it's been two years since Deucalion turned us. What were the odds she'd scream now that they were passing through?

"Just be careful. We'll do what we can."

She nodded before leaving us.

"You should've seen his face when he saw us together." Ethan whispered into my ear.

I playfully pushed him. "Whatever. He's not interested."

We sat outside on his back porch. Not many people spilled out here because it was chilly at night. The stars shined bright above us as a chill ran through me.

"Do you want me to get you a blanket or something?" He asked.

I smiled at him. He was really friendly. "Thanks, but I liked the cold."

"Me, too."

"So, why don't you have a girlfriend? You offer blankets and love the cold. You're a catch."

He laughed. "Probably because I'm gay."

I didn't meant to stare, but I couldn't help it. There weren't any rumors, not that I'd listen to them. He seemed interested in girls. Maybe he was bisexual. "But your always around girls and you're hot."

He laughed again. "And I do yoga and hang around girls." He gave me a look as if that explained it.

"That's why you talked to me? You really don't want to bone me." Some part of me hoped that Ethan liked how I looked, because he was taking an interest in me. No one really ever took an interest in me besides Allison.

He smiled. "Do you want me to bone you?"

"Well, not if you're…" I leaned in close so no one would over hear us. "Gay."

We laughed. "I don't care who knows."

"But no one knows, so it seems like you're keeping it a secret." I took his hand in mine, hoping to give him comfort for what he must be going through.

He gave me a reassuring look. "I'm happy. No one knows about me because I haven't found the right guy yet. Although I'm sure the girls I do yoga with know."

I smiled. "So you are looking? Just not in_ this_ direction." I displayed myself.

He grinned. "Exactly. Make no mistake, you are beautiful. If I wasn't gay I'm pretty sure I would be trying to _bone_ you right now."

"Sure you would."

His fingers grabbed my chin, making me look at him. "You, Lydia Martin, are completely gorgeous." He tried to reassure me. "You think guys haven't been checking you out? The only reason they haven't come up to you is because they think you're already taken." His eyes changed and for a second I thought he was going to kiss me, but he asked me something instead. "Would you pretend to be my girlfriend?"

My eyes widened. "What?"

"I said-"

"No I heard you. Why would you need to pretend if you're happy?"

He huffed. "It's a lame excuse, but too many girls hang around me. Their always flirting and I don't want to seem like a manwhore, especially if I find the right guy at school. I need to settle down and look committed. You'd be the perfect commitment. We already get along so well. We wouldn't have to make out in front of the whole school or anything. We would just be friends, but closer." He breathed, letting me take it all in.

I had never thought I'd find myself in this position. No one ever needed me for anything. No one ever wanted me. I wanted to help Ethan out. It's not every day that you get a hot gay guy friend that asks you to be their pretend girlfriend. What harm could it do? It would make me feel noticed, it would make me feel appreciated. Even if it wasn't by Stiles.

I smiled at him. "Ask me again."

"Would you be my girl?" He asked just as the patio door slid open. We looked up to see Stiles with a worried look on his face. Had he heard our conversation or just the part where Ethan asked me to be his girlfriend? I didn't know why it mattered because he couldn't care less.

"Uh-"

Allison pushed past him to find us sitting here, looking so intimate. You could say she was shocked, but worried was more like it. "We need to go." She told me.

"Okay." I didn't really understand her brashness, but I got up anyway. Ethan followed me to the car, as well as Stiles and Isaac.

"We're giving them a ride home."

"Okay." I turned back to Ethan.

"Give me your phone." He smiled.

I handed it to him as the others got in the car. He punched in his number and texted himself. "Okay. I'm going to text you later on so we can talk more."

I smiled at him, giving him a hug. He wrapped his strong arms around me and I felt considerably safe. I didn't think Ethan would hurt me. I didn't think he'd lie to me either. He helped me in the Allison's van. "See you tomorrow." He closed the door behind me.

"Bye." I smiled.

After we pulled off, it was safe to say you could cut the awkward tension in the car with a knife. "So," Allison started. "Where do you guys live?"

Stiles told her how to get there, and that they both live together, but he didn't go into detail about why. Honestly, I didn't care. All I could think about was how I had managed to find a friend in Ethan that I never thought possible, all because Allison dragged me to that party. If I had stayed home I would've been going over the syllabus and reading ahead. Not that it was a bad thing, it just wasn't fun. I felt alive, I felt like I'd remember this night for the rest of my life. All because of Allison and Ethan. I felt a smile tug at my lips as I looked up at the starry sky.

"So are you and Ethan like a thing?" Allison asked.

I turned toward her, wondering what was her reason for asking in front of the guys. "Maybe." I smiled thinking about how well we got along. We really connected by coincidence. "Thanks for taking me to the party."

She gave me a small smile. "No, problem."

What was up with her? She wanted to leave so abruptly, it was barely after ten. Now she acted like she didn't want me talking to Ethan. This was her idea after all.

When we stopped in front of huge and rather impressive house, Stiles and Isaac got out. "Thanks." They both said.

"You're welcome."

Stiles headed up the drive way while Isaac stopped by Allison's window. I gave them their privacy, gazing at Stiles as the same girl he's always with came outside to meet him. They were talking about something and she looked upset, then looked down at the car. Was she staring at me or Isaac? Whatever the case, Stiles grabbed her by the waist and brought her inside where I bet they have a passionate make out session.

I groaned, mentally kicking myself for excessively thinking about him. This year was more than about changing our outward appearance and social status, it was about becoming stronger. I didn't feel strong when I was around Stiles. I felt weak and unmeasurable. Maybe that was the world telling me that I shouldn't be having feelings for Stiles.

Once Isaac walked up the house, we drove off. The boys had left, but there was still an awkward silence. She was driving extra careful and kept looking to either side of the road. I huffed. "You want to tell me what's going with you? Are you mad at me or something?"

She gave me an apologetic look. "No, I'm not mad at you. Why do you think I'm mad at you?"

"Because you come storming in on Ethan and I and then you demand me leave. Now you're barely talking to me." I didn't consider that she might have a thing for him because of Isaac and Aiden, but you never know. "Do you like him or something?"

Her face scrunched up as she laughed. "No. Do you?"

I hesitated answering, knowing that I couldn't keep a secret like this from my best friend, but I also didn't want to out Ethan, who didn't seem too concerned with being outed to everyone. "Can we talk about this later, it's very fresh?"

"Sure. How about we do a sleepover?"

I gave her a look. "As long as you don't keep me up all night. I don't want to flunk out of school."

She rolled her eyes. "We both know you wouldn't let that happen."

She was right. My future was too important to me. I didn't really want to know what I wanted for my future. I just knew I wanted out of this town, which was cliché, but really true. The only good thing I had going for me here was Allison and she wanted out as much as me. Now I had Ethan to think of.


	5. On Watch

STILES's POV:

After Lydia dropped us off, Deucalion had us stake out there house. We only ever did this when a threat came into town, which wasn't often enough that it was debilitating to our school work. I actually wanted to go to college after graduation, and I think Isaac wanted to stay because he didn't really have a family because his dad died a few years ago and he felt so connected to all of us that he didn't want to change it. Cora made it clear that she wanted to stay with Deucalion and part of me thinks that's why Isaac is so hell bent on staying. Sure, I would miss them all and I would come back to visit, but I wanted to explore the world and find out who I was outside all of this.

It was just Isaac and I because Cora was upset about Isaac telling Allison and all. Maybe if I had brought her to the party she would've met someone. Maybe not. Now that Allison was definitely in the picture Isaac hadn't really said anything about Cora. To be honest, I wasn't sure if his feelings for her went past attraction. I mean, I know he cared about her, but he just didn't seem that serious.

We were in the woods, within sight of the house when Isaac looked at his phone, then met my eyes. "Allison says hi."

I gave him a look. "Are you really texting her right now?" Right now when Cora's probably at home crying in her closet. I was really worried about her. When I told her what happened earlier she took it kind of hard.

His brow furrowed. "What? I'm checking up on her. We are trying to keep them safe, aren't we?"

He had a point. I was just letting my feelings for Cora get the best of me. Worrying about her was easier than focusing on Lydia and Ethan apparently dating now. It was only a matter of time. Had I really expected that she would remain single until it was okay for us to be anything more?

"Sorry. I'm just…"

"Upset about Lydia and Ethan?" He tossed out. "I really don't seem them happening."

I looked at her window, hoping to get a glimpse of her, and then thinking that it seemed kind of perverse, so I looked away. "You saw them together. She looked happy with him and he's popular and rich and charming."

"You know she's not that kind of girl, she's not naïve." He assured me.

He was right again, but that still didn't dissipate my worry. I wanted her to be all mine, even though I didn't deserve her I still wanted what I wanted. "Should I text her? Ask Allison for her number?"

He thought about it, then handed me his phone. "Text Allison."

LYDIA'S POV:

We were sprawled out on my bed, laughing and talking about our night. She looked up at me with her face mask on and tried to smile, but her face was too tight causing us to laugh. Only we both had masks on, which only made us laugh harder.

"You'll never guess who just texted me." Her voice playful.

I thought about it. "Aiden or Isaac?"

She held the phone to my face. "No, Stiles!" She teased.

A pang of jealousy ran through me, mostly because the phone was so close I couldn't actually read the text. "What?!" I yanked the phone from her hand, then smiled. "He wanted to know if I'm okay." I was already okay, but I was better now.

She smiled up at me. "Look at you. You still holding up that candle or are you burning a new one?"

My flame for Stiles was still burning, no matter how I tried to blow it out it wouldn't die. I definitely was not burning anything for Ethan other than friendship, and that was still budding. I focused on my ceiling. "I should blow it out, I know I should, but it smells so good and it's so cute."

"But what about this new sleek candle you stumbled upon?"

My brow furrowed. "I thought you didn't like that candle?"

"No, I just think the old one is dependable and totally burn worthy. It makes you feel all fuzzy inside and warm, and I know you've liked this candle for years. I just don't want you to rush into burning this new one, only to be disappointed if it doesn't smell as good or compliment you room as much."

I really didn't get the last part, but up until then everything was perfect English. My phone buzzed, it was from Ethan. I met Allison's eyes. "The new candle is a bit colorful for my liking, so I'm going to stick to the old one, even though it doesn't burn as bright as I would like it to."

Her eyes narrowed. "OMG, the new candle is colorful?"

I nodded.

She started to ask me something, but stopped herself. "We'll talk about this later." She patted her face. "Let's wash this stuff off." She yawned causing me to do the same.

STILES' POV:

Even though we try not to eavesdrop on them, I still caught part of their conversation. They were talking about candles. Isaac must've heard them, too, because we shared a confused look. "Why the fuck are they talking about candles so long?" He asked.

I shrugged, not knowing the answer. Allison still hadn't texted me back. I really wanted to know how Lydia was. Was I coming on too strong? Surely, she could see right through me. A few minutes later I got a text saying she was fine. The lights cut off, making the entire house dark. They had presumably gone to sleep.

Isaac yawned. "Thank God we have school tomorrow morning." His voice dripped of sarcasm.

I yawned in response. "Yeah, we can go in late."

Silence ensued for a few minutes, leaving me to my mind. Isaac was the first to break it. "So are we going to talk about what's going on?"

I eyed him. "You mean with Scott?"

He nodded. "Yeah, with Scott. It's been two years since he ran away. Two years without a word. Now he's on his way into town, putting the girl you love in danger. How are you feeling?"

Moments like these with Isaac made me really appreciate him. We joked around a lot at school because we could, but when we got home it was business and we had to take our emotions out of our work. Every now and then we'd share a moment like this that made me want to call him my brother. I sighed. "I'm not sure how to feel, Isaac. Scott and I didn't end on good terms, I can't imagine him being destructive and ruthless enough to be the leader of the Alpha pack. Maybe we're just worried about nothing. Maybe the just want to roll through, why do they have to hurt anybody?"

"Maybe because they want power, they're an alpha pack after all, Stiles. The Scott you knew is gone. He has to be, and I'm sorry about that. If he wants to hurt you, he knows exactly how." He motioned to Lydia's house. "We have to be smart about this."

Isaac was on a roll because he was right once again tonight. I just didn't know how to approach this situation.

WHAT I WANTED TO WRITE WHEN LYDIA READ THE TEXT FROM STILES, BUT I DIDN'T LIKE THE PATH it would set them down.

"He wants my number." It sunk in. I met her eyes. "He wants my number." We smiled at each other. "He wants my number!" I kicked my feet in the air excitedly while Allison took the phone from my hands. "Wait, what are you doing?"

"Giving him your number. Unless Ethan would get jealous and you don't want me to?" She challenged.

My lips pursed. Ethan and I had been texting since I got home and we were getting to know each other better, but I didn't get excited every time I got a text from him. Especially, because was gay. Was I ready to have Stiles Stilinksi texting me? I handled riding in a car with him sober, so I think I could handle this. I ok'd it and waited for a special text.


	6. Can We Keep Him?

LYDIA'S POV:

Today was the second day of school and I already had a fake gay boyfriend, but I boyfriend nonetheless. Ethan wanted to pick me up, and when I insisted Allison ride with us she managed to get a ride from Isaac, and I'm assuming Stiles.

I stood in the mirror glancing myself over; I wore a gold and black floral skater skirt with a burgundy halter under a black blazer along with a pair of gold peep hole heels and some gold accent jewelry. My hair was curled in loose waves with a faint red lip and smokey eyes. ( . ) I had to admit I looked hot. It was a step up from yesterday's outfit, probably due to Ethan. He was gay, I had to keep up with him, and I was sure he'd approve of this outfit. Last night he texted me saying he wanted to come over after school so he could check out my closet. I laughed at the thought of us trying on my clothes and talking about boys, it seemed like fun. Hopefully, he'd be okay with me telling Allison. Surely, he wouldn't expect me to keep it from my best friend.

"You can do this." I told myself in the mirror. I felt confident, I had fun last night, and now I had Ethan. When I made my way to my kitchen I grabbed my favorite pressed juices smoothie, taking a straw along with me. As vain as it sounded I didn't want to mess up my lipstick, but with red you could never be too careful.

A horn honked from outside, I grabbed my bag and headed out to the car. Ethan was bumping Britney Spears and I had to laugh. He wore a grey v-neck with dark jeans and white shoes. He looked hot. "Hey," I smiled, giving him a hug.

He hugged me back, then smiled at me. "Hey, you look incredible. I would've come up to the door, but we're running a bit late." We headed off to school. "By the way, no one knows about this, not even Aiden. He kind of has a big mouth."

"Wait, does he know about you?"

He laughed. "He knows. He doesn't have a problem with it, he actually comes to me for advice sometimes." He drummed to the beat on the steering wheel. "So I wanted to say this face to face," He glanced over at me. "You should've seen how crushed Stiles' looked when he thought I really asked you out. It was so cute. I swear he can make puppy dog eyes sexy."

I blushed at the absurd thought. Stiles didn't like me, and while I was upset about it I didn't want to dwell on the what if's. "Do you have a crush on Stiles?"

"No, but if I did I would make it known." His fake cough masked the word coward.

I shot him a glare. "I am not a coward." Actually I was. "He does not like me. I would know if he liked me. Well, there was last night." Shit. I spoke too much.

His eyes lit up. "What happened last night?"

No matter how hard I tried the stupid smile appeared on my face. "He used Isaac's phone to text me on Allison's phone."

He wrapped his brain around that. "What did he say? Give me some details."

I huffed, trying to hide the remains of my smile. "He just wanted to know if I was okay. He was just being nice, I guess. Maybe he felt bad because he could tell I knew he didn't like me."

Ethan gave me a look like he wanted to slap me. "Are you that dumb? He LIKES you!"

I refused to believe it because I never thought it possible as long as I liked him. There was no real evidence that he liked me. He never smiled at me, he never held the door for me or asked me out. Well, I never did those things for him, but why would I? I was trying to hide myself. This year I was being bold, and just because he bumped into me doesn't mean he liked me or anything that Ethan was trying to convince me of. I would not get my hopes up over this.

When we got to school classes were about to begin, but Ethan walked me to class anyway, producing a few stares. I think a lot of people didn't know who I was, or if they did they didn't expect Ethan and I together. I was going with the former. Classes went by without a beat and I had to admit I felt a certain confidence by being at Ethan's side. He walked me to classes, holding my hand, which I didn't mind.

We leaned against the wall near my fourth period class. He smiled down at me. "You're having lunch with us right?"

"I'm your girlfriend, aren't I?" I joked. Our fingers lazily hung together.

He glanced behind me for a second before leaning in and tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. Again, I thought he was going to kiss me, but he didn't. "Yeah, you are." His voice full of emotion, causing me to blush.

Just because Ethan was gay didn't mean that he didn't evoke certain things in my body. Especially, when no one had ever touched me in that way before. Our fingers fell from one another's. "We both better get to class."

He smiled. "Nice blush."

I swatted at his chest before he walked away. "Shut up." I laughed.

He walked backwards with his hands in his front pockets. "See you at lunch." He winked.

I couldn't help from keeping the smile off my face as I entered the class before Harris. Allison was smiling at me the whole way to my seat. "What? Can I not smile?"

She gave a slight shake of her head. "Next time don't let the whole class hear you."

Stiles had heard us? Before I stopped myself I looked over at him. He looked straight ahead for the most part, not really willing to make eye contact. So last night was just him feeling bad, just like I thought. He didn't give a crap about me. My colorful candle did.

Towards the middle of class Allison whispered, "You okay?"

I nodded. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She shrugged before turning back to Isaac. At least she was having some luck. I took out my phone and texted Ethan for a pick me up, and that's exactly what he did. What I was not expecting was for him to do it when class let out. Especially not in front of Stiles. Was he trying to prove a point to me that Stiles cared?

He eventually put me down and we walked hand in hand to the grab lunch. The sun was out when we got outside, making the courtyard look like something out of a Hollywood high school drama. Ethan sat with us at Stiles and Isaac's table. He brought my legs to lay across his lap. Maybe he was proving another point. Whatever the case, Stiles wasn't picking up on it.

STILES' POV:

I spent the whole night worrying that Scott's pack would appear and take Lydia from us. From me. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Something worse awaited me at school. Ethan and Lydia gazed at each other while holding hands. He must've sensed me staring because he met my gaze before turning back to being intimate with Lydia, as if knowingly taunting me. Could he tell how I felt about her? Could she? Maybe that's why she texted me back last night because she felt sorry for me. She didn't care about me.

Throughout class I tried not to think about how happy she looked while walking into class. I tried not to think about that the fact that I had her first, or at least I'd like to think so. Really, she wasn't mine to have. I felt her look over at me a few times, probably to see if I was okay. I was trying to look anywhere but her, but I was being fairly obvious. My anger and jealousy were brewing in my fantastically.

The thing I needed the most was to see Ethan sweep her off her feet and to hear her sweet giggling because of him. Honestly, they looked amazing together. Two beautiful people being happy together, that was the worst part. They looked so natural together. Who was I to get in the way of that? Sure, I wish it was me, but it wasn't. When it came down to it, I just wanted Lydia to be happy. That's when I made the decision not to mope around because that wouldn't keep Lydia safe, and I didn't want to be that lovesick idiot that no one wants to be around.

They sat with us at lunch. Lydia was practically sitting on his lap, rubbing it in my face. They smiled at each other while talking with Allison and Isaac. It was clear that I was the fifth wheel.

"Scott?" Lydia muttered.

My head snapped up to look where she was. There he was perched against a table with a red lipped blonde and very huge black guy. He was eating an apple, looking right at me.

Isaac and I locked eyes. "What the hell is he doing here?" Isaac asked, scooting away from Allison. He was right to make some distance between them because if Scott knew Isaac had a thing for Allison he'd use her to get to him. It was then that I was tremendously glad that Ethan had Lydia wrapped around him. If I played my cards right he wouldn't know how I still felt about Lydia.

"I thought you two were best friends?" Lydia asked.

How had she known that? Had she seen me hanging out with him before he left two years ago? Had she been paying attention? "What's it to you?" My voice thick with forced animosity as I stared into Scott's eyes, daring him to come over.

"Hey, don't talk to her like that." Ethan warned.

"You don't get to tell me what to do." I locked eyes with him, emitting the rage I felt for him. "Ever."

Ethan looked shocked, along with Lydia, but I didn't bring myself to care about them right now.

"Stiles." Isaac warned. "Calm down."

Our eyes met. His eyes flickered gold for a second, willing me to calm down. He was right, I needed to cool off before I did something to put any of them in jeopardy. So I walked over to Scott.

His dark brown hair stuck up everywhere. He wore dark jeans and a grey wife beater that showcased two band tattoo. His grin sardonic. "Stiles. How's it going?"

"What are you doing here Scott? Didn't you leave for a reason?" I eyed the menacing black guy before looking at the very attractive blonde whose features were very on display.

She smiled at me with her inviting light brown eyes. "Scott you didn't tell me he was so cute." She reached out to touch me, but Scott grabbed her wrist, giving her scolding look only an Alpha can. Only she was an Alpha, too, so she ripped her hand away and jumped off the table to stand in front of me. "Erica." She held out her hand.

I shook it. "Stiles, but I'm sure you already knew that."

She circled me like a lion, her hand running along my body. "Can we keep him?"

Isaac appeared next to me, his hand grabbing Erica's. She yanked away, sneering at him. I got the feeling she didn't like to be told what to do. "What are you doing here Scott?"

The black guy stood up, rivaling Isaac's height. "You must be Lahey?"

Isaac stepped forward. "What's it to you?"

Erica smirked at us. "Look at you two being all defensive."

Scott stepped forward. "Erica, Boyd, relax." They fell behind him, unsatisfied. He met my eyes. "Tell Deucalion that we'll be in touch," He grinned. "Try not to look so sad, we'll have time for you."

The principal walked toward us, a grin on his face. "Sorry, I'm running a bit late. Are you all ready to enroll?"

Scott looked me in the eyes. "Yes, I think we're going to stay here awhile." They walked away, Erica ran her hand down my back as she left.

Isaac and I looked at each other. "Great." Isaac muttered.


	7. Reviews

Hey, guys. I just wanted to make it known that I do want reviews and I would appreciate it if you would write one. Writing these chapters take time and effort, and when we don't get reviews it makes us feel bad. So would yall mind writing them? I'm not asking for a hundred reviews per chapter, but you know what I mean. Thanks for reading, and thanks to those of you who already take the time to write a review.


	8. Then What The Hell Is She?

LYDIA'S POV:

Stiles was very quiet during lunch. It was clear that he felt like the fifth wheel and I felt like it was my fault. This was his table we had taken over after all. I averted my eyes quickly, fearing that I stared too long. That's when I spotted Scott. At least I think it was Scott, this guy looked wicked. "Scott?"

Stiles' eyes met mine with confusion before finding Scott with a blonde girl and black guy.

"What the hell is he doing here? Isaac demanded, clearly as upset as Stiles.

What had happened to cause this reaction? "I thought you two were best friends?" I asked Stiles.

"What's it to you?" His voice seeped of distaste that was clearly directed toward me.

Despite everything I told myself about how strong and brave I was I still felt my eyes sting from unshed tears. My throat felt like it was about to spit up whatever I had earlier. _Don't cry_, I told myself. I felt like I didn't know him, which I actually didn't. I tried to tell myself that maybe he didn't mean it to come out like that.

Ethan could obviously tell that I was upset, so like the good friend he was proving to be he defended me. "Hey, don't talk to her like that."

They locked eyes. "You don't get to tell me what to do." His eyes seemed to glimmer a faint yellow. "Ever."

"Stiles," Isaac warned. "Calm down." His eyes seemed to do the same thing.

I looked at Allison, she didn't seem confused only shaken. I tried to get her to look at me, but she wouldn't meet my eyes. What was really going on with her?

The next thing I know Stiles was standing in front of Scott and his friends. Again, it didn't appear to be old friends catching up. Erica held out her hand and Stiles shook it. It was clear she was intentionally flirting with him, and she seemed used to getting her way. She was gorgeous after all, maybe a little too provocative, but still very attractive. She ran her hand across her body as she circled him like he was a piece of meat.

Jealousy filled me, she had the courage to do what I never could. And for that she would catch Stiles' attention. I huffed. I was really starting to sound pathetic. My world didn't revolve around Stiles, but I had liked him for so long it felt like it did.

"Lydia, he didn't mean it." Isaac told me before joining Stiles. He grabbed Erica's hand, which I felt for some reason was for my benefit, which was insane. She yanked her hand away, causing the tall black guy to step in. Isaac stepped forward, ready for a fight. Would it come to that? Scott met my eyes. There was that wicked feeling that wasn't there two years ago. What had happened to him? Why was he back?

The principal walked over to them and walked about with the three newcomers. Stiles and Isaac stared after them. This so didn't seem good.

ALLISON'S POV:

"Isaac, what was that?" I asked him once he was in my room. My dad wasn't home. If he was I wasn't so sure he'd object to Isaac being in my room and laying on bed. He looked really good sprawled across my bed.

"Which part?" He looked at the ceiling.

My hands went to my hips. "How about the part where Stiles yelled at Lydia or when we all saw both your eyes flash yellow? Or what happened with Scott? Is he who you were talking about? Is he here to hurt Lydia?"

He huffed, meeting my eyes. "That's a lot of questions."

I gave him a "don't mess with me" look, which I felt confident in because last night he said I didn't know what I was. That meant I was something extraordinary.

He sat up and motioned for me to sit by him, his greenish blue eyes serious. "Stiles was doing what he's always done. Protect Lydia. Scott would easily use her to get to him."

"Is that why you moved away from me at lunch?" I hadn't realized that the question would be implying something more than we've discussed. I was quite sure that everyone knew there was something between Isaac and me, but it had only been a day since we've met. Had much could there be between us?

His eyes grew intense in a way that made me question everything I just said. His brow furrowed. "Uh, yeah. I didn't want you to be in danger because of me."

I nodded. "Thanks, I guess."

He grinned. "Argent, just because it's my job to protect you doesn't mean that I wouldn't otherwise. Not that you need protecting."

I willed my cheeks not to blush and my some miracle they didn't. "What did you mean last night by I didn't know what I was?"

He turned so that our bodies were completely facing each other. I wasn't sure if it was excitement I saw in his eyes or not. "You know what Argent means in French, right?"

I nodded, wondering what this had to do with my secret identity. "Yeah."

He waited for me to get it, but I was so not getting it. He grabbed my hand and headed to the kitchen. He pulled a butcher knife from the rack.

"Um, Isaac…if you were planning on killing me you could've-"

He grinned, handing me the knife. "Relax, Argent."

My brow furrowed, taking the knife. I've always strangely liked how sharp objects felt in my hands. Maybe that was why I abused myself. "I don't get it."

His hands covered mine just as he turned all wolfy on me, pushing the knife toward him. Maybe the knife went out because he surprised me because I didn't want to hurt him. I liked him after all. "Isaac, what the hell is wrong with you?" I yanked the knife away from his stomach.

He met eyes expectantly. "Argent, I know you're smarter than this."

Whatever he was waiting for me to get it wouldn't come. Instead I closed the distance between us, lifting his shirt to where I stabbed him. My fingers touched the already healing wound until it wasn't considered a wound any longer. Why would he want me to hurt him? Why would he turn into a werewolf for all of this? And what was with him bring up the French translation of my last name? Our eyes met. After a few seconds it all clicked into place. "Oh."

He moved closer to me, making me realize I was practically groping his abs. This time I blushed in embarrassment. "You okay?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. Why hadn't my dad told me any of this? Why keep something like that a secret? "I don't understand." I took a step back, trying to figure this all out. Just yesterday I was a half way normal teenager that didn't know anything about werewolves and werewolf hunters. I blew out a shakey breath, looking back at Isaac. "Why are you telling me this if I can hurt you?"

He took a cautious step forward. "You obviously don't have any training, so you can't be that dangerous to me. Besides you were bound to find out any day now."

I assumed he was referring to that Deucalion guy him and Stiles were talking about last night. He was going to tell me all about my family heritage. Did they want to train me to help them or get rid of me? I doubted that they wanted to hurt me and that Isaac would let that happen. It hit me again that I barely knew Isaac, but I still felt like I knew him. "What about Lydia? Is she a hunter, too?"

"Not exactly."

My brow arched. "Then what the hell is she?"


	9. He Was Doing His Job

ALLISON'S POV:

"What the hell, Allison?" Lydia demanded over the phone.

"Excuse me?"

"Since last night I get the feeling you're not telling me something. Since when don't we tell each other things?"

Keeping her safe was more important than having her be mad at me. Of course, I didn't want her to be made at me, but she was the only family I had, and if I had to lie to her to keep her safe then I would.

I huffed. "I'm in the dark just like you are."

"Which means you know something."

_Yeah, you're a freaking banshee_. As if she'd believe me. I involuntarily rolled my eyes. "All I know is that Scott being here isn't good, so could you just stay away from him?"

She was quiet for several seconds, then huffed. "Fine, I get that you might be looking out for me, but don't betray my trust if you know something. You're my sister and I need you."

Tears prickled at my eyes. "I'm not trying to push you away, but there's stuff with Isaac that I didn't know about and he's dealing with Stiles who's dealing with Scott."

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"No, you're fine." I glanced at Isaac perched on the island in my kitchen. "I gotta go, but Lydia?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be too hard on Stiles for what happened earlier, he didn't mean to be so rude to you."

She gave a bitter laugh. "Sure, love you."

"Love you, too. Bye." We hung up.

Isaac looked up from the pile of menus in his skilled hands. "You okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah. So when am I going to start my training or whatever?"

He held up a Chinese menu and grabbed the phone. After ordering for both of us he jumped off the island and looked at me. "You don't need to worry about that right now, Argent. We're going to take care of you and Lydia. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, I promise."

Without warning I wrapped my arms around him, not really believing any of this was real. When he hugged me back I knew it was, and I couldn't stop the tears from coming. Warmth radiated between our bodies. It felt like things were going to be okay while Isaac was holding me close to him. He lightly took my face in his hand and made me look up at him, his greenish blue eyes full of emotion. "Why are you crying?" He thumbed away my tears.

"I'm sorry, I just don't know what to expect out of all of this. How are any of us possibly not going to get hurt or worse?"

He huffed, grabbing me by the waist to place me on the island leaving his hands on my waist. I felt like every nerve was on fire. "Allison, I know that telling you not to worry won't help, but it's the best I can do right now. I wish things were different for you, that you weren't in this mess with us." He dropped his hands from my waist.

"I wish things were different, too." I saw his eyes dip in disappointment. "I wish that we met in different circumstances, and that Stiles and Lydia could see how perfect they would be together."

He met my eyes, a tiny smile on his lips. "That's all?"

"I wish I were more confident two years ago so that I could've told you how I felt about you then."

His forehead creased as he stepped closer. "How did you feel about me then?"

"The same way I do now." I grinned.

He laughed. "Which is what?"

I shrugged, playing coy. "You're just going to have to wait and find out."

"Really?" He grabbed me off the island and started the tickle torture. "Tell me and I'll stop."

Kicking and struggling to get from his skilled hands was all I could do to no avail. "You will…not tickle…the truth out of me, Lahey." I struggled not to laugh, but I was way too sensitive.

(THE AWKWARD MOMENT WHEN MY DOORBELL RINGS AND I THINK ITS ALLISON AND ISAAC'S CHINESE FOOD!)

He smiled big. "I beg to differ, Argent."

After a few more seconds of intense torment I was ready to admit defeat, and I knew how I was going to do it. I grabbed his neck, pulling him down on top of me. My lips sought his, sending thrills throughout my whole body when he responded. My hand caressed his cheek. He ran his hand down my body, clutching me to him as our tongues met. I didn't know about him, but I was getting out two years' worth of emotions, and never having this experience. My legs wrapped around his waist, making his noticeable member press against me harder.

He pulled away from our kiss, panting. "Allison," He met my eyes. "What are we doing?"

I huffed. "I've never done this before, so I don't know." I tried to pull him back to me, but he resisted.

His eyes turned serious. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Why would you?"

"Because he's been watching over you for two years, that's why." A feminine voice said from my nearby, causing me to jump.

Isaac sat up quickly, bringing me with him. "What are you doing here?" He asked the voice.

I turned to see that it was the brown haired girl that we always saw with Stiles. Was she here looking for Stiles? And how the hell did she get in here? She really was pretty and I really did wish I had her hair.

"I came to get you, but it seems that you were busy." Her voice full of distain as she looked at me.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" I asked.

She looked back at Isaac. "I'm Cora, Isaac's _friend_."

The look in Isaac's eyes told me that he thought of her as more, and by the way she was acting it seemed she wish she were, which was confusing considering that I thought her and Stiles might've been dating.

Isaac rose off the couch. "I'm sorry, I have to go."

I rose. "Are you serious?"

Cora stepped forward. "Do you want to know why he was here, Allison?" Isaac gave her a serious look, but she ignored him. "He was doing his job. That's all he's ever done. You are his job and don't forget it." She stormed off.

"Cora, wait?"

Something in me felt like what she said was true. The look on Isaac's face confirmed what I thought. "Isaac?"

He met my eyes, his eyes troubled. "I'm sorry, I have to go." He ran after her, calling her name.

Red hot angered filled me. He left me for her. I showed him how I felt and this is what I get? He left me. My dad left me. My mom left me. Kate left me. It was only a matter of time before Lydia left me. I stumbled to the kitchen with the familiar empty feeling filling me. My hand found my favorite knife as I slid it across my wrist wanting to see blood, releasing any pain I had left. I did it again, and again until there was nothing left to feel. Tears slid down my face on their own volition as I slid down to the floor, watching my wrist bleed.


	10. What Happened?

CORA'S POV:

I went to get Isaac from Allison's because Deucalion asked me to, which I was more than happy to. Stiles was discussing what happened with Scott with Deucalion so he was too busy to go, which left me. I wasn't any idiot, I knew he liked Allison. I used to think he liked me, but then he started paying more attention to her than he was supposed to.

_Isaac popped his head into my room, hiding his body. "Hey." He grinned._

_ My lips tugged into a smile. He always made me happy. I set aside my laptop. "Hey, what's up?"_

_ "You hungry?" _

_ I knew he wasn't asking me out on a date, but a girl could hope. "Uh, yeah. Why?"_

_ "Close your eyes." He instructed._

_ My brow creased. "What? Why?"_

_ "Just do it, Hale." _

_ Fine. I closed my eyes, patiently waiting for something to happen. I was holding out for a kiss, but I didn't think that's what Isaac intended to do._

_ There was a dip in my bed and I felt something heavy place itself a few feet from me. "You can open your eyes now." _

_ They opened to find Isaac sitting in front of me along with a box of pizza, a cartoon of my favorite ice cream, and a three liter of coke. "Are we having a movie night?" _

_ He looked so cute when he grinned. "Yeah, it's been awhile." He held up three movies that he knew I wouldn't mind watching. "So prepare yourself for A Night of Awesomeness: Lahey Edition."_

_ I laughed at his lameness. "I was born prepared." _

_ We started the movie and dung into the food as we laid onto our stomach facing the TV. Moments like these made me feel more for Isaac than I should. We were friends, and I was closer with Stiles, but the little things that he's done over time made me feel more than I thought he wanted. _

_ He met my eyes with a smile. "You okay? You're very quiet tonight."_

_ "Yeah, it's just weird. We haven't done this in a while."_

_ He grabbed some popcorn he popped after the first movie ended. "Well, you've been hanging out with Stiles so much lately. And I've been busy with Allison stuff and school work. Things haven't been in our favor." _

_ "It's always going to be like this, isn't it? You're going to be a junior this year. Pretty soon you'll be off to college." Even though that was two years away the thought still saddened me. Eventually, I'd lose Isaac._

_ He sighed. "Well, I don't know about that. I've got some pretty good people in my life right now. I don't want to screw with that." He looked me in the eyes._

_ I gave a small smile. I knew he wasn't talking about me, but Allison and Stiles. Times like these made me remember why we weren't together and why I was closer with Stiles. "Well, you better make sure those good people know how much they mean to you." _

_ There was a knock on the door and Stiles appeared, looking confused. "Hey, what's up with you two?" He asked._

_ "Nothing." I maybe said a little too forcefully, but I didn't think they pick up on it. "We were just watching movies." Stiles and I locked eyes, I was willing him to understand what just happen, and I think he caught on a little bit._

_ Isaac looked between the two of us before getting up. "I actually have to go watch over Allison for a bit." He avoided my eyes. "This was really fun, we need to do it again sometimes." _

_ Stiles and I shared a confused look as I sat up. "Yeah, okay. Bye."_

_ He gave me a tight smile. "Bye."_

"Cora, wait!" Isaac kept calling after me, but I was done with him putting Allison before me. That's how it's been for almost two years and now I experienced first-hand what I was missing. "Cora, please. Stop." He grabbed my wrist.

I yanked it away. "Don't touch me!" I got in my car and drove home.

The only thing I needed right now was my best friend. Stiles always knew how to make me feel better. I drove angry because I was. Why was I surprised, really? This wasn't anything new. My phone buzzed many times before I got home, which was probably Isaac, but I couldn't bring myself to look at them.

As soon as I rushed into the house I made my way to find Stiles. He wasn't in the living room or his room, and not the kitchen. "Stiles?" I called out, fearing he wasn't home any longer because I needed him.

"In here." His voice came from in my room. He was leaning against my balcony, letting the night breeze into my room. He looked at me with concern in his light brown eyes as I came at him. "What's wrong?" He hugged me back. "What happened?"

My body sunk into his, letting the comfort take over. My eyes closed as I breathed him in. "I don't want to talk about it, just hold me."

He didn't let me go, but told me everything was going to be okay. He rubbed my back as his kissed the top of my head. "I'm not going to let Isaac hurt you anymore."

I looked up at him. "How'd you know?"

His eyes sad. "He's the only one that could hurt you so much because you care about him the most."

My brow furrowed. "He's not the one I care about most, he's the one I like. Besides Derek and sometimes Deucalion, you're the most important person in my life." I assured him. That's when I realized something was wrong with him, too. Why else would he be standing out on my balcony alone? He had to be troubled about something. Or someone. "Why don't you just lay one on her like you did me?" I joked.

He grinned, making him look cute. "She has a boyfriend and their perfect together. And I'm pretty sure that if she didn't hate me before she definitely does after I yelled at her."

My arms went around his neck, bringing us closer. "Then you're the idiot." I grinned.

He laughed, grabbing my hips. "You're right. I was just trying to protect, but I was so angry."

"Scott's an asshole." We laughed, trying to forget about our screwed up love life problems. "Maybe I could try something." My hands held his face.

He stilled. "What are you doing?" He asked cautiously.

"Relax, I'm not going to kiss you again." I grinned. "Let me see if I can make the heartache go away." I closed my eyes and focused.

He relaxed. "Because that worked out so well the first time." His voice dripping of sarcasm.

"If you shut up I might be able to make this work." I blew out a breath of air. "Is anything happening?"

"Now you want me to speak?"

My eyes flew open. "Hey, don't mess with me. I have your life in my hands."

He smiled his cute smile. Sometimes I wished I didn't like Isaac so much and that I wasn't so screwed up so that Stiles and I could maybe have something. We would be good together. He's caring and sweet and funny. He knows me better than my own brother. He was the only person that could pull me out from the darkness. I loved him more than anything.

He looked at me and sighed. "You know this is starting to look like the other day from the beach." His voice wasn't worried, which confused me.

"Would it be so bad if it was?"

He really gave it some thought before leaning down so that our foreheads met. "I don't know what we're doing Cora. We're best friends. What about Isaac?" His lips leaned a bit closer, not touching mine.

I sunk into his body once more. "What about Lydia?"

Our lips met, sending that familiar spark through the both of us. My hands went his neck and face while he grabbed my back. Our tongues played together, making me feel way more for Stiles than I ever thought possible. It had to be hormones because Stiles never made me want to seduce him, but the way his he was holding me to him and loving my body, it felt real. His lips went to my neck, hitting the right spot for me to moan his name. Hearing his name must've sent him over the edge because we got a visitor from his pants. That made me wonder if he really did find me attractive or if he was just trying to make me feel better.

He stopped kissing my neck and grinned at me. "Isn't this weird?"

I laughed. "Totally, but it feels great."

He laughed. "I do what I can."

Just as I was about to go in for the kill the remainings of his laugh fell away, replaced by worry. "What is it?"

He met my eyes. "I'm justifying doing this to Isaac."

"What do you mean?"

His brow furrowed. "He likes you." When I didn't say anything, he continued. "What happened between you two earlier?"

I stepped away from him. "What do you mean, 'he likes me?'"

"He looked nervous. "Uh, he may have told me he liked you a while ago."

My fist acted before I could stop it, hitting him in the stomach. He keeled over, groaning. "That's for not telling me sooner. You know how I felt about him."

He looked up at me. "You mean how you feel about him?"

"Just like how you feel about Lydia?" I headed into my room, closing the screen and locking it so he couldn't get in.

He tried to open it without breaking the door, but couldn't. "Come on." He watched as I headed for the door. "Cora!" He banged on the glass.

I made my way to the kitchen, grabbing the ice cream from the freezer and putting it into the blender along with some milk. I just needed comfort food. Opening the fridge, I found some chocolate pudding that I devoured in a second. There were some chips on top of the fridge that I got into. Seconds later I went for my milkshake, drinking it out of the blender. Ice cream fell past my face.

Hands grabbed me, pulling the chips and blender away from me. "Stop it." Stiles begged.

I pushed him away to drink more of my milkshake. He was stopping me from feeling good.

"Cora, you need to stop."

I stuffed some chips into my mouth. "Why? Because you can't stand to see me like this? It's not all about you Stiles! Sometimes other people are hurting!" My lip trembled as I looked down at the blender and bag of chips. My chest felt heavy as the tears burned my eyes. What was I doing? My hands let go of everything as I fell to the kitchen floor with painful sobs coming out of me.

Stiles side stepped the mess and held me to him, letting me cry into his chest. "You're going to be fine." He rubbed my back.

We stayed like that for what felt like hours until he helped me to his bathroom. "Take a hot shower, it'll make you feel better." He closed the door.

I turned the shower on, letting it get hot. I slipped my clothes off, then looked in the mirror above the sink. All I saw was ugly and fat. That was all I ever saw. I looked away, disgusted. My feet stepped into the hot shower. I let the steaming water beat down on my skin, just standing there. It was only when Stiles asked if I was okay that I made an effort to clean myself. After I got out and put on the clothes Stiles got me. I was thankful that he got me his clothes because I didn't want anything too restricting. Before walking out I put my wet hair into a high bun to find him sitting on the edge of his bed with a worried look on his face. Guilt riddled inside me because I know I put it there constantly.

I went to sit beside him. Not realizing that he might be freaked out by what happened on the balcony, I scooted over a little, clearing my throat. "I'm sorry I keep putting you through this. It's not fair to you. I feel like you think I take you for granted, and that I care more about Isaac than you. It's not like that. And I'm sorry for pushing you away earlier."

He grabbed my hand, not saying anything for a while. "Where would we be right now if I hadn't told you about Isaac?"

Honestly, I hadn't thought about that. My mini break down took other things from my mind. Now it was time to face what the hell happened between us earlier. I swallowed the lump in my throat before saying, "Either we would've slept together or we would've come to our senses." He looked at me. "This isn't what you want, is it? Can you tell me that you would forget all about Lydia and be with me? I know I couldn't forget about Isaac."

He gave a wry smile. "Yeah, I guess we got lost in the moment. We're too close to be anything more."

I laughed. "Yeah, we're just friends who sometimes make out. That's all."

He laughed with me. We were close now and it didn't feel like earlier where we wanted to grope each other's face. We were just looking, understanding, and glad that we both understood where we stood. "Can we promise each other that we won't do anything else stupid? I don't want to lose us. You're like my sister who I sometimes check out and kiss."

I grinned, holding out my hand. "Let's shake on it."

His hand gripped mine, pulling me into a hug. "I'm sorry I got a hard on earlier. It wasn't you." He joked.

I smacked him in the back of the head, trying not to smile. "Shut up."

"Love you, too."

ISAAC'S POV:

Cora wouldn't let me talk to her, she wouldn't answer any of my calls or texts, so I figured I'd let that breathe for a while. I sighed, trying to figure out why she did what she did. I thought she had feelings for Stiles, she was always with him and he was about the only person that could turn her day around when she was feeling bad. I knew she had a purging and binging problem, that she was doing better thanks to Stiles. He seemed to be the only person besides Derek who she truly loved. And that hurt me more times than I could count. Maybe that's why when I noticed Allison I latched onto feeling things for her. She started out to be this girl that I had to look after without interacting with, then over time she became that girl that I would watch in the halls and try not to stare at when we did have class together, and the girl I couldn't get out of my head when I went to bed. She used to be quiet and timid, and would hold her head down. Now she was bold and charismatic and even more beautiful because she believed in herself. When I saw her yesterday in the halls I really couldn't breathe. Allison and Lydia had gone away for the weekend before school started back up, and apparently this was what they were up to. There was nothing really wrong with how she dressed before, it was cute and comfortable, but now she was mouthwatering and I couldn't keep my eyes off her.

When she ignored me in class I wanted to shake her and tell her to look at me, look at how much I see you, and I want you. Maybe Stiles was right, maybe it had to do with the whole forbidden fruit thing. She was destined to be a Hunter and I would always be a Werewolf. It was funny how that didn't even register as a problem on our radar.

I debated about going back to talk to Allison or getting out of here. I definitely need to think, and I needed to hear what Cora had to say. I was about to drive off when I caught scent of fresh blood. Human blood. The scent was coming from Allison's house.

I jumped out of my car and ran to check on her, my heart beating a mile a minute. If she was hurt and Scott had something to do with it, then I'd kill him. I'm sure Stiles wouldn't mind. But then I found her sitting on the kitchen floor, her left wrist bloodied and slit open. "Allison!" She didn't look up. She didn't look like she was there with me, and that scared the shit out of me. There were tear streaks on her cheeks. Scott wouldn't just cut her wrist then walk away, which meant she done this herself. The knife lay bloodied as well. I picked it up and placed it into the sink, trying to meet her eyes. They were vacant. My throat felt thick. "Allison, did you do this to yourself?" She didn't answer.

For the first time since becoming a Werewolf and working for Deucalion I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to handle this situation. She was catatonic and I didn't know if I should keep trying to get to respond or rush her to the hospital. Panic set in and moments later I picked her up and ran her to my car. I drove as fast as I could to the hospital, not caring about red lights or patrolling cops. The girl that I was supposed to be protecting cut herself, and I couldn't shake the feeling that it had to do with me. I didn't want to believe it, but I was left with no other choice because she wouldn't answer me.

I parked and then ran her into the emergency wing. "Help!" I yelled, getting attention. "Someone, help me!" Once people realized that the girl I was carrying had cuts on her wrist they paid me some attention.

Doctors rushed over, asking me questions and trying to take her from me. I didn't know who to answer or what to say. I was afraid she was losing too much blood because the cuts were deep. "Would you please just help her?"

A short brunette named Melissa gave me a sympathetic look. "We're trying to help her." Her voice soft and comforting. "I know you want us to help her, so breathe and let us do our job."

I did as she instructed and I felt better. "Can I stay with her?"

She smiled. "Sure, you can."

They put her on an IV drip and stitched her up. She wouldn't say anything or look at anyone, only look at the ceiling. After they finished asking me questions that I answered to the best of my ability they all left and she closed her eyes. I wasn't sure if she was going to sleep or ignoring me, but that didn't stop me. "Allison, if this has anything to do with me, I'm so sorry." My hand grabbed her hand. I felt my eyes sting with tears. "I never wanted to hurt you. But the doctors are going to help you and you're going to get better, and everything's going to be fine because I don't know how to feel right now. All I know is that I'm not leaving you."

There was a knock on the door, Lydia walked in. Fat tears were in her already red eyes. Her lip trembled as she tried to keep it together. Her hand went to her mouth as she attempted to cover up her sobs. I went to her, pulling her into a hug. She sobbed into my chest, not holding back at all. Someone had to be strong here, so I tried to be strong for Lydia and Allison.

Lydia look up at me with puffy red eyes. "What happened?"


	11. Fooled You

I have fooled you. I bet you thought this was a new chapter, but NO! I keep forgetting to ask you guys to review at the end of my chapters. So, yeah...please review. I shouldn't see that 100 plus people have read it and I didn't get any reviews. Tell me you hated it or tell me it was okay. Tell me it was something or let me know what you would like to see happen. I'm open to ideas.


	12. What Happened ? pt 2

LYDIA'S POV:

Ethan and I had long finished what little homework we could have on the second day of school, and had started going through my closet and making me try things on together. Amazingly enough his squeezed into my heels and wrapped a scarf around his neck while I did my runway show.

"Yes! Work it betch!" (Yes, that's how I spell bitch) He said in a very flamboyant voice.

My legs took me from point A to point B, confident oozing out of me. I needed this after everything that happened with Allison and Stiles. Ethan was helping me not dwell on all of that. He couldn't have picked a better time to become my GBF (Gay Best/Boyfriend). My hand flipped my hair over my shoulder as Britney Spears' Work Bitch came on.

"Come on, you look gorgeous!" He passed me a red navy blue blazer and different heals to go with my white lace dress. He tasseled my hair to give it a messy look. "Work that runway, betch!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms out.

I couldn't help but laugh at him. Obviously, I hadn't known him very long, but throughout grade school and the years of high school with him I never thought I'd see this side of Ethan. He was never in my radar, not that he was a bad guy or anything, I just had my sights set on Stiles since the fifth grade.

He stood up straight, looking manly again. "What? You can't take me seriously like this?" His voice deep enough to seem masculine.

"No, I can't." I laughed. "You seem so straight."

He grinned at me. "Eww, no way."

"What, does vagina gross you out, too?" I walked over to him, holding onto his muscular shoulder while I took off my heels. "I don't get that. What's so great about being with the same sex, you're limited to only one way of intercourse besides foreplay."

His brow raised in amusement. "You haven't had sex before have you?"

My cheeks reddened as I tried not to laugh. "No, I haven't. I thought I was waiting for the right guy. Now I don't know what that is anymore. I mean, I guess I shouldn't have looked at one guy as the perfect guy, but I thought he was."

Ethan had taken off my shoes and we sat on the bed. "First of all, I get what you mean. I had a crush on this amazing girl for a long time, and then she broke my heart and I couldn't look at girls the same way anymore. I've tried to become interested in girls again, and sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't." He looked at me. "So there's someone else out there for you. Someone who appreciates you and looks at you like they can't get enough of you. It'll happen," He smiled. "Trust me."

I sighed. The part of my brain that rationalized things told me Ethan was right, but the part of my brain that had been holding out for Stiles since the fifth grade told me that he was the only one for me. Of course I knew that there would be other guys out there for me, but I didn't want those guys.

"Second of all, don't give up on Stiles. I know it's weird that I'm defending him after what he did, but you didn't see the way he looked at you when he saw us together. Lydia, I promise that he likes you."

"I just have a hard time believing that. Plus there's this girl I see him with a lot. I think they're together. Allison thinks they're just friends, but I've seen how they are together. I don't think he'd ever look at me how he looks at her."

"If they were together why wouldn't she come to my party with him? Why doesn't she pick him up from school? Do you ever see the two of them holding hands or kissing?" He questioned.

Now that I thought about, I hadn't. But that didn't mean they weren't together. "That doesn't prove anything."

He rose. "Maybe not, but if you don't ask him you'll never know."

I rolled my eyes. "Good advice, boyfriend."

He laughed. "Well, I might have my eye on someone else, Red."

"Is that what you're calling me now?" I smiled.

He pulled me up from the bed. "Maybe. Now, let's go for a drive. I want to show you something."

Fifteen minutes later Ethan and I had ended up at some park I've never been to. I looked at Ethan. "Why are we here?"

He held his hand out for me to take. "This was where I first realized I was gay." We sat on a nearby bench. "It had been about a week since Paige had cheated on me. I didn't know what to feel, I didn't know who to trust."

My brow furrowed. "What about your brother?"

He gave me a wry smile. "That's who she cheated on me with."

"Wait, what?"

"Relax," He smiled. "My brother didn't do anything wrong. He didn't want Paige. It took me awhile to believe that. In some ways, I'm thankful for what Paige did. It made Aiden and me closer, and as a result I became comfortable in my own skin because he was by my side for everything."

Talk about making lemonade. What I envied about Ethan was that he knew what he wanted and he didn't care about what anyone thought. Why hadn't I developed that gene? "Ethan, why did you bring me here?"

He looked at me, catching my eyes. "I brought you here because this was where I became fearless. This was where I decided that I wouldn't let anything stop me from being happy. I want you to be happy."

My eyes stung with tears. "That means a lot." I lean my head against his shoulder, grateful that I had him right now. I was beginning to feel a drift between Allison and I.

"I'm glad you think so because I want you to go to Stiles and tell him how you feel."

My head flew up and I glared at him. "What? Right now?"

"Why not?" He challenged. "Be brave or you'll never get anywhere in life."

He was right, but did I have to be brave first with Stiles? No, but if I could then a lot of things wouldn't seem so scary. "Okay." I looked at Ethan. "Let's go before I talk myself out of it."

He smiled.

As we got in the car I said, "I must really be a terrible girlfriend if you want to get rid of me so soon."

He gave me a disappointed look before driving off. "That is so not true, but how can I be selfish with you when someone else so clearly likes you? I mean, I am gay."

A new problem arose. "Well, what about you wanting something long term? Wasn't that the whole point of this?"

"Yeah, but this is bigger than me. I'm not complaining because we became fast friends out of it."

There he goes again, making Lemonade. Truthfully, if this confrontation with Stiles worked out then I would feel so bad for Ethan. Vainly, I thought about how my reputation would change. Two boyfriends in two days? I mean, was it wrong to not want to be the school slut? Who wanted that reputation?

By the time we had gotten to his house Ethan and I had talked my ego up, and I was feeling confident enough to at least tell him I liked him. Ethan gave me "go get em" hug before I made my way out of the car. _This wouldn't be so hard,_ I thought. _All I have to do is say those three words and not vomit, which I think I can handle. _

Giant butterflies flapped fear into my stomach as I got out of the car. I couldn't do this. _What can you do? _My mind asked me. _You're a coward_. Anger filled me, I wasn't a coward. Not anymore. My feet took me forward. Forward enough to see the dark haired girl pressed against Stiles. I came this far and I wasn't going to let something that might not even be what I think it is stop me. I was about to call out to him when she wrapped her arms around his neck and he smiled at her and grabbed his hips. Still, I stood my ground. Sometimes things weren't as they seemed, so I held out hope even though my chest was feeling heavy. Then she caressed his face and they kissed passionately.

That was it. That was all I needed to run back to the car with my tail between my legs. Tears formed in my eyes as I opened the door. My lip trembled, I fought to control the feeling of wanting to throw up.

"Breathe." Ethan drove away.

Breathing was nearly impossibly between all the sobbing I was doing. I was cliché enough to say it felt like my heart was breaking. Pathetic, I know. But that was what heartbreak was. Feeling like you can't be whole without that person, feeling like they could make or break your day, which was what love was. Why else have it if it didn't define you as a person and dictate your life? I loved Stiles, so what I was feeling was justifiable.

Ethan pulled the car over, wrapping me into a warm hug, which only made me cry harder. No one had ever seen me cry besides Allison, but right now I didn't care because Ethan was offering me comfort to the best of his ability. "I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm so sorry." He rubbed my back.

Part of me wanted to blame him for making me go over there and for making me feel like this, but that wasn't the brave thing to do. That was the cowardice thing to do. Truthfully, no one was to blame. No one but me for my own heartache. I let all of that out because I felt as if I'd been holding my emotions in for a long time, trying to be the rock for Allison.

My phone buzzed in my purse, but I didn't care. This was my time to cry. This was my time to mope.

Ethan grabbed my purse, fishing for my phone then read the message. "Lydia, you might want to read this." He showed me the phone and my heart broke all over again.

We rushed to the hospital within speeding limitations. I couldn't believe this was happening right now. As selfish as that sounded I needed my best friend and she had gone and done this to herself. I rushed to her room, fat tears in my eyes as I knocked on the door. Again, I couldn't control my trembling lips while I tried to keep it together. Isaac and I locked eyes, he looked so worried. Scared even. When I saw her laying there with that familiar empty look in her eyes I couldn't hold it in any longer. My hand went my mouth in an attempt to silence myself, then Isaac pulled me into a hug. The only thing I could do was cry into his big chest. I was done with being strong because look where it got me. I looked up at Isaac. "What happened?"

"I don't know. We were hanging out and I had to leave. I forgot my phone so I went back and I found her in the kitchen."

I was thankful that Isaac was with her, she might've bled out by the time I got to her house. I hugged him again, only tighter. "Thank you for saving her."

He didn't say anything just gave me a wry smile. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

A tear slipped out of his eye, almost breaking my heart, which couldn't get any more broken at this point. "I just feel like this was my fault or something."

I shook my head. "No, this isn't your fault. This isn't the first time this has happened."

The look on his face did break whatever else there was of my heart. I could tell he really did care about Allison. What I saw flash on his face was failure as if this was his fault somehow. There had to be something else going on here. I mean, you don't feel like that about a person after knowing them for barely two days. You just don't. At least, not the way I've been living. Maybe that was the point, that I wasn't living it right.

Ethan came in with room stickers, something I didn't bother with on my mission to get to this room. He looked at Allison, then at me and Isaac. Isaac released me and let me go to Ethan.

About half an hour later Ethan ran to the café to get us some food. Isaac wasn't about to leave Allison alone, which I thought was really sweet. I, on the other hand, needed to breath. There was a row of chairs a little ways down the hall that I went to sit in. I blew out a shaky breathe as my hands ran down my face. How could this be happening? She was fine earlier, Isaac was with her. They look good together. What was I missing?

This overwhelming feeling of dread overtook me. Suddenly, the tear gates fled open and I was hiding my head in my hands, trying not to be too loud. I felt like I couldn't breathe, my chest felt really tight and heavy. All I wanted to do was curl up into a ball and cry forever.

"Lydia?"

I looked up to find Stiles and the dark haired girl looking down at me. I rubbed my eyes, not wanting either of them to see me like this. "Stiles, what are you doing here?" I rose, feeling really embarrassed.

His cinnamon eyes looked soft and sweet. "Isaac told me what happened. I wanted to see if you were okay, and Allison, too."

I sighed, of course he was here for Allison. "Honestly, I'm not doing too well considering." My eyes fell on the dark haired beauty.

"Oh, this is Cora." Stiles said.

I gave her a small smile. "Lydia, thanks for coming."

She returned the small smile. "No, problem. I'm sorry about your friend."

"Thanks." After that it became sufficiently awkward until Cora said she was going to the room. So it was just me and Stiles. I heavily considered going to find Ethan, but then he spoke.

"Lydia, I'm sorry about earlier."

How the hell did he see me when he was sucking face? Did that mean he knew that I liked him? Was I that obvious? Was that why he yelled at me, because he was trying to send me a message that he wasn't interested?

He took a step closer. "At lunch, I didn't mean to be so rude." He explained and I relaxed. "Scott just knows how to get to me, and I took my anger out on you. I never meant to do that. I'm really sorry. Please forgive me. If you don't then I understand, and I'll leave you alone. You won't ever see me again. I'll switch classes and eat in the bathroom at lunch if-" He rambled on.

I never heard him say so much at once, it was really cute to hear him ramble. "Stiles," I stopped him. He paused, looking at me with those beautiful big eyes. "Shut up. I forgive you. You don't have to switch classes or eat in the bathroom." I smiled.

Something amazing happened. He smiled back. And of course my cheeks blush, but in my defense no one should smile like that if they already had a girlfriend.

"Hey, Stiles." Ethan said, almost making me jump. Way to sneak up on someone.

"Hey, Ethan."

Ethan looked down at me with an almost pissed off expression. He handed me a turkey burger with fries and a drink. "Hope this is okay." He put his arm around me protectively as he glared at Stiles.

In that moment I really wanted to elbow him in the stomach because he was being rude. I understood that he was trying to protect me, but could he be more obvious? "Thanks." My hand turned his face to look at me, letting Stiles make a run for it. My eyes willed Ethan's to understand that he didn't have to play the role of the protective older brother. I could handle Stiles just fine. He seemed to understand and calm down.

When we sat down to eat Stiles had already gone to the room. Ethan tried to make me feel better because he knew I was teetering on the edge of breaking again due to Stiles being her with "Cora". I had to be better than this, but tonight I would dwell in self-pity while I had Ethan by my side.


	13. Clarification on my fic

Hey, guys. I just wanted to explain a few things to you about We Sort Of Ran Into Each Other.

First thing, I hope you guys recognize that this fic is different than most due to the fact that it's not set in the same version of Beacon Hills. The characters aren't following the same plots as on the show, but in different versions of events. The whole dynamic is different.

Second, this fic has no correlation to He Saw Me Looking At Him. As much as I appreciate the comment, someone said they hoped Cora ends up with Scott like in HSMLAH because she couldn't see her being with Cora or Isaac. While I do recognize for my fic's sake that Stiles and Cora probably won't end up together, you guys have to realize that since Stiles hasn't be in love with Lydia since the third grade in my story, but only two years, that just because he really likes Lydia doesn't mean that he can't fall in love with someone else. It wouldn't make sense for him not to be open to love just because he likes Lydia. She does have a "bf" after all. It's not fair of you to say I wish Isaac and Allison go to England like in HSMLAH, not that anyone said that, in WSORIEO because they are two totally different fics. To clarify, I'm not mad or anything at anyone who wishes or says I wish so and so would happen, I just want to make it clear that these two stories may have overlap at times, but they are very different. I won't write something for WSORIEO just because it happened in HSMLAH.

Thirdly, I hope you guys have seen the teenage girl body image problem pattern I've written. I'm not being sexist and only having the girls have psychological issues, but it's more likely for a teenage girl to cut herself or binge and purge than it is for a teenage boy. This was not meant to hurt anybody's feeling, but to bring some awareness to my fic. A lot of fics aren't really about real life issues, and while I'm not making mine about cutting or binging, I'm involving those elements.

That's all. Thanks for reading and giving me feedback. The next chapter is coming soon.


	14. He Knows

I'd like to a shout out for my favorite comments.

miizx3ela chapter 1 . Dec 19, 2013

I liked your first draft with Jackson.

But this new version got me so much more intrigued about what's to come next! :) cant wait for your next update.

Nicole chapter 2 . Dec 20, 2013

Fucking Deucalion!

I prefer this version much better, though any story would be good! Ahhhh I love Allison and Isaac flirting; hheheehe I'm squealing.

Loved it, hope to see an update on either story.

Nicole chapter 3 . Dec 23, 2013

I hope Cora ends up with Scott like in HSMLAH. She totally deserves a great guy but Stiles and Isaac are out of question.

Can't wait to see this. It's nice that, instead of just teen-flirting-relationships stuff, there's now action, storyline- TW- stuff. Changing the chapter was a good decision!

Iwannabelikeme chapter 7 . Jan 5

Hey! Sorry about not reviewing, sometimes I forget...oops. I promise I'm gonna start reviewing because I'm into this story and so I wouldn't like you to stop writing it. Can't wait for the next chapter, altough I would really like for Ethan to go away...

kortneyfpto chapter 8 . Jan 6

Great chapter. As always

Nicole chapter 8 . Jan 6

Hey, sorry I haven't been reviewing lately, I barely even have time to read.

I love how this is going and damn Lydia and her stubborness. I love the whole jealousy going on between Stydia. Oh, and change the description/summary of the stor? Since you took away Jackson. I know you made a A/N chapter about it but I think it'll be better if you stated it at the cover- it gives people false hope and possibly disappointment to see his absence because they expected from the summary.

Iwannabelikeme chapter 9 . Jan 8

Woah, I definitely wasn't expecting that Allison cutting herself thing, pretty intense, and only because Isaac left, seems pretty hard to imagine. I would like to see a little more of Cora, or watch her interact with Isaac to see how their dynamic is. Waiting for the next!

Kick-12 chapter 10 . Jan 9

I love it I really wanted Lydia and stiles to be together but the story is great update soon

kortneyfpto chapter 10 . Jan 9

Great Amazing chapter. Upset that you fooled me

alexisellison chapter 11 . Jan 10

I really like this idea for a story. Keep it up :)

Guest chapter 11 . Jan 9

I just read this whole thing for the first time, and I really like how you took the teen wolf characters and changed around their dynamic. I'm curious to see what goes on between Lydia and Stiles, especially with the whole Cora thing. Over all, great :) I would definitely like to see more chapters.

Guest chapter 11 . Jan 9

I just read this whole thing for the first time, and I really like how you took the teen wolf characters and changed around their dynamic. I'm curious to see what goes on between Lydia and Stiles, especially with the whole Cora thing. Over all, great :) I would definitely like to see more chapters.

Kick-12 chapter 12 . 7m ago

Awww I love how Ethan is protective over Lydia this is wonderful chapter please update soon this is such a great story I hope Stiles gets jealous of Lydia and Ethan's relationship

I've decided that I Iwannabelikeme, kortneyfpto, and Nicole (if you would send me your email address) are my biggest fans, and as a prize they will be receiving exclusive chapter updates, upcoming answers to cliffhangers of their choice, shoutouts, and some imput into what they'd like to see happen. Thanks you guys for supporting me.

STILES' POV:

Seeing Lydia crying last night was so painful. I wanted to be the one who gave her comfort and not Ethan, but I didn't want to cross any lines with her. She just forgave me. Somehow I stopped myself from pulling her to me and holding onto her.

Allison is still at the hospital. Isaac's staying with her while Lydia and I go to school. The first couple of periods were a blur because I couldn't focus on anything besides Lydia. I hadn't seen her since last night when Ethan drove her home. I knew he would take care of her, but I still wanted it to be me. I've had that suffocating pit in my stomach that wouldn't go away until I saw her. When fourth period finally rolled around she didn't show, only making it worse. I texted Isaac to see if she was did end up going to the hospital, but he said she showed up before school, but then left with Ethan.

The ADD that I had before I was turned was sneaking back up on me. I couldn't shake this jittery feeling. When I did spot her by her Erica was talking to her. Lydia didn't look scared, just confused. So was I for that matter.

I made my way up to them. "Hey, what's going on?" I pointedly looked at Erica.

She smiled at me in that enticing way again. "We were just talking about you, Stiles." She looked me up and down.

"Good stuff, I hope." Scott said from behind me. He looked at me. "How's Allison?" He stepped forward.

I stood possessively in front of Lydia. He wasn't getting anywhere near her when I was around. "That's none of your business."

He smirked. "Some things never change. I see you're still protecting this one." He glanced at Lydia for a second.

"What?" Lydia asked.

How did he know about that? He had left before Deucalion had given us assignments. "Scott, what do you want?"

He cocked his head at Lydia, then looked at me. "You know what I want, and just because Deucalion has Isaac at the hospital and you here doesn't mean I won't get it." He walked off to meet Boyd.

Erica smirked at me before licking her lips. "See ya, later."

I blew out a breath before walking away.

"Are you serious?" Lydia asked.

I didn't turn back. "Forget what you just heard Lydia?" I headed for the closest exit.

She grabbed my shoulder, pulling me to face her. Her moss green eyes were clearly upset. "Stiles, how am I supposed to forget that? Or what happened yesterday with your eyes? Or that Isaac seems to be the only one that knows what's going on with Allison?"

"I just don't want you the middle of it, okay?"

Her pink lips tightened as she looked to the side. "I get it, Stiles." She turned away from. "Loud and clear." She walked down the hall.

What? Did she think I didn't want her around? "Wait."

She stopped, but didn't turn around.

"That's not what I meant."

She huffed, turning to look at me. "Then what did you mean, Stiles?"

I walked a few steps closer. "Not that. I just want to keep you safe."

She was having a hard time believing that. "Well, you have a weird way of showing it." She walked through the door.

The only thing that stopped me from going after was knowing that Scott wouldn't try anything at school. He didn't want to hurt anyone or expose all of us. At least, the old him didn't. Who he was now, I didn't know that guy.

This was starting to feel like it was my fault. If Scott and I hadn't had that big fight then he wouldn't have gone off started this Alpha pack. He wouldn't be trying to add Lydia and Allison to it, he'd be protecting them just like Isaac and I do.

I pulled out my phone, hoping that what I was about to do would work.

As soon as she could Cora got here. Things were definitely weird last night, but not for us. It was obvious that something happened between her and Isaac. At least, it was obvious to me. We were there for each other, and it was only now that I could tell that Isaac thought there was something going on between us. I would love to say why would he think that? But we were always together, always joking around, almost always touching. If I had known that it was bothering him, if I had backed off would Allison be at the hospital right now? He told me what happened, and I couldn't shake the feeling that it was my fault.

Cora looked around the school. "Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, what would Deucalion think?"

"Seeing as Deucalion has been absent lately, I'm taking matters into my own hands, and I'm not going to let Lydia get hurt because I couldn't protect her enough."

She looked at me weird.

"What?" I asked.

She headed for the front doors of the school. "She thinks we're together, you know?"

Why would she think that? "How do you know?" I caught up to her.

"By the way she looked at us. It must be a girl thing to actually notice things." She joked sarcastically.

My brow arched in question. Would it matter if Cora and I were a couple, in regards to Lydia? She had Ethan, and they looked happy together. Maybe despite how rude she thought I was being to her she might care about me as a friend. Or maybe she didn't think I was able to get a girlfriend, which I wasn't.

"You saw them together though. What did you think?" I opened the door for her as we started to the principal's office.

"I thought they looked happy together," She looked at me. "As _friends_."

I waited in the reception area until everything was sorted out, making sure to let Isaac in on the plan. Somehow I didn't think he'd be too comfortable with this new adjustment, but this was bigger than him and his love triangle. When she came out with the principal he asked me to take her to her next class, which wasn't with me.

"This feels really weird." She said.

I suppose it was. Cora was homeschooled most of her life, along with Derek, her older brother. Asking her to do this wasn't hard, but I considered how different it would be for her. Honestly, I cared more about Lydia's safety than Cora being uncomfortable for something as minute as this. "Hopefully, Scott will go away with some coaxing and minimum bloodshed."

She pulled out her phone, looking at the screen with a serious look. She looked at me. "Isaac's a real asshole." Her tone stern as she shoved the phone in her back pocket.

"What did he say?" I asked, fearing the worst.

The bell rung and the hall was starting to fill up. "He's just being really weird. I mean, he acts like he doesn't like me, and falls for Allison, and now that I'm here he's acting like I'm starting drama. I mean, what am I supposed to do? And it's so not my fault that Allison cut herself."

I shushed her, bringing us to a quiet corner. "Why would you think that? Did he say that it was your fault?" One thing's for sure, if he did I was going down to the hospital and kicking his ass.

She looked down. "No, but I can tell he's thinking it. That if I hadn't went over there then this wouldn't have happened."

My hand rested on her shoulder, and she looked up at me. "Forget Isaac, okay?" The way we were in moments like these when we were so close and intimate reminded me that if we really wanted to we could be together. Sure it would be weird, but we've both proven we were attracted to each other. We weren't destined to be together and our love wasn't one for the story books, but could do it if we wanted. I could tell she was thinking the same thing, so I took my hand off her shoulder. "What about that guy from the beach?"

(I give you all of me and you give me all of you SONG)

Her brow lifted, making her look kind of seductive. "We've texted a few times, but I don't think anything will come of it."

"Why not?" I asked, feeling something else coming through my voice. I cleared my throat.

She looked down again. "He's not my type. I just don't see it going anywhere. He's seems like the more than one girl at a time kind of guy…"

I noticed how cute she looked when she tucked her hair behind her ear. What the hell was wrong with me? This was my best friend, who happened to be in love with another guy. And I was with Lydia, more or less. I was sure that I loved her and I wanted to be with her. She was always in my head, so I think that was what love was. I never experienced it before, so I didn't have much to go on.

I looked back at Cora. "Do you want something serious?" She looked confused, probably thinking I was asking about us. "With Isaac, I mean."

She grinned slightly. "I thought I did before any of this happened, but now I don't know."

My hand found hers, intertwining our fingers together. That familiar yet foreign tingle ran through my hand. She seemed to be affected by it, too. "I'm sorry that this is confusing now. I shouldn't have kissed you that day at the beach, and last night."

"Well, last night was a collaborative effort, so…" She joked.

I smiled at her because she made me smile. "You know what I mean," She grinned at me. "It's too easy for us to keep doing this."

Her hands wrapped around my neck. "You mean this?" Her lips fell on mine, gently caressing mine.

My hands went to her waist, pulling her to me. That was exactly what I meant. Everything about us was so convenient and comfortable. We lived together, we were best friends, and we worked together. There was a reason neither of us had felt anything for each other for the past two years. Maybe we were just so lonely together we forced feelings on each other. I pulled away from the kiss, immediately finding Lydia staring at us. Fuck. She gave me a small smile before heading down the hall.

Cora stepped away from me. "Yeah, that was a mistake." She wiped her lips off, not in a mean way.

"Dammit." I could punch something. This was just perfect. Even if Lydia did somehow like me I would have a hard time convincing her that Cora and I were just friends after she saw that. I blew out a heavy breath, trying to calm down.

"Stiles, relax. Just tell her it didn't mean anything."

"Ouch." That really did hurt.

She gave me an apologetic look. "Come on, we both know this isn't going anywhere. We're just best friends who sometimes like to kiss. And if we didn't like other people then maybe we could've worked out, but you know we can't do this."

I blew out a heavy breath, knowing that she was right.

When we walked to her next class I made sure to encourage her. She was doing this to protect Lydia. With everything that happened between us it felt weird at this point to ask her to do this now, but she understood perfectly how important this was.


	15. Thank You

LYDIA'S POV:

Everything was going fine. I skipped my class with Stiles because I didn't want to see him. How was I supposed to strong when every time I saw him I felt weak? That reaction wasn't healthy. Maybe I should switch out of that class. Did that make me weak?

I was stopped in the hall by the pretty blonde that was friends with Scott. Her red lips smiled at me. "Lydia, right?"

"Yeah, may I help you?"

Her red nails drummed on the nearby locker. "I wanted to talk to you about Stiles since you're so close."

What made her think we were close? Stiles would have no reason to tell her that, neither would Scott because it wasn't true. So how did she come to that conclusion?

She seemed to understand my confusion. "My mistake. I just assumed by the way you look at each other. Maybe I was wrong. Am I?"

I nodded because I had no idea what she was talking about, and because I thought it would get me out of this conversation quicker.

"So you wouldn't mind if I asked him out, would you?"

Her sex appeal hit me all at once when Stiles came up and she grinned at him like he was a kabob.

After that it was all a jumble of nonsense and friendly threats. What I couldn't understand was what Allison and I had to do with anything concerning Scott or Stiles. When Stiles walked away I asked, "Are you serious?"

He didn't turn back. "Forget what you just heard Lydia?" He headed for the closest exit.

My hand reached out for his shoulder, pulling him to face me. Her moss green eyes were clearly upset. "Stiles, how am I supposed to forget that? Or what happened yesterday with your eyes? Or that Isaac seems to be the only one that knows what's going on with Allison?"

"I just don't want you in the middle of it, okay?"

My lips thinned out as I averted my eyes. I didn't want Stiles to see what felt like unshed tears in my eyes. "I get it, Stiles." I turned away from him. "Loud and clear." I headed down the hall.

"Wait."

I stopped, but didn't turn around.

"That's not what I meant." He said.

I huffed, turning to look at him. "Then what did you mean, Stiles?"

He walked a few steps closer. "Not that. I just want to keep you safe."

Somehow I was having a hard time believing that. One reason being that he barely knew me, and another being he yelled at me. "Well, you have a weird way of showing it." My feet took me through the door. Once on the other side I blew out a heavy breath.

Ethan had to a family thing to deal with, so he wasn't at school to cheer me up, but he did drop me off this morning. My petty Stiles problems paled in comparison to his grandpa being hospitalized because of some weird black bile seeping from him, so I didn't want to bother him. With that in mind, I made my way to the library. My journal found my hand and the next thing I know I was writing a mile a minute about everything that had happened to me in the past three days. I just needed to get it out because I knew I'd feel better if I did. Before I knew it the bell rung and I was making my way to class.

When I rounded the corner I found Stiles and Cora lip-locked again! Did those two ever give it a rest? Twice was enough for my eyes. Stiles must've felt me staring because he pulled away and looked right at me. I wanted to die right there and then! How I didn't blush beet red and run away was beyond me. Instead I gave him a small smile and calmly headed to class.

_You're strong. Be strong. Pull yourself together, _I told myself as I took my seat in English.

Moments later Cora comes in and sits right by me. She turns to me with a friendly smile that reminds me how pretty she is. "Lydia, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to wreck the mood or whatever."

She grinned. "No, problem."

It was hard paying attention with Stiles' girlfriend sitting right next to me. I wanted to ask her what it was like, but knew that sounded really lame and weird. On occasion I couldn't help but peep over at her taking notes with her dark hair tucked behind her ear. She seemed over studious, but this was her first day here. Which brought up the question how did her and Stiles know each other if not from school? Maybe they were childhood friends.

Mr. Smith announced that we needed to partner up to discuss Book one and two of _The Iliad_ for next class and make outlines before the bell dismissed us. Cora turned to me with hopeful kind eyes. "Lydia, would you mind being my partner? I don't really know anyone else? And I hear that you're really smart."

"Sure," I gave her a smile. "Who told you I was smart?" I asked as we headed for the door.

"I did." Stiles answered, propped against the door. He looked so cute as he gave me a small smile. "You're always on the Honor Roll list by the Principal's office."

He noticed me back then? "Thanks, I guess." I turned to Cora, hoping she didn't see how in love I was with her boo thang. "Give me your phone." She handed it over and I punched in my number, then handed it back to her. "Text me about later." I turned on my heel and headed off to my final class with my phone in my hand.

Ethan answered the phone on the second ring. "Red, what's up?"

"Just the fact that today has been the single worse day of my life, nothing new."

"I have a feeling I can make it better. When I see you later you better have a smile on your gorgeous face and I'm not kidding."

A hint of a smile tugged on my pink stained lips. "Or what?"

"Trust me it would be really bad for you."

I laughed. "If you say so." We said our goodbyes before I headed into class.

The final bell couldn't ring soon enough. I sashayed out of the building with Ethan's car in site. He smiled at me before someone walked into me. My eyes met chocolate brown ones surrounded my tank skin and dark hair. A sense of dread overtook me. "Scott. Sorry."

He grinned down at me. "Lydia. How are you?"

I side stepped him. "Fine."

He stepped into my way. "Relax, I just wanted to talk to you."

My arms folded across my chest as I tried to get away from him. I felt darkness radiate from him. Almost a coldness, too.

"I don't think she wants to talk to you, Scott." Stiles said, coming up from behind me. He put space between Scott and me.

A sense of protectiveness flooded me at the sight of him. Kind of the same feeling I had earlier when Scott showed up in the hallway. Then I caught sight of Ethan and Cora backing Stiles up. Ethan tucked me to his side with a worried brow.

Scott smirked at Stiles before looking at me. "We'll talk later." He started off before locking eyes with Cora. He seemed impressed by her and she did not by him.

"Are you okay?" Stiles and Ethan asked me simultaneously. I looked between them before settling on Ethan. "I'm fine. He's just creepy that's all." Ethan held my chin between his finger and thumb as he assured me that Scott wouldn't come near me again. Somehow I thought he couldn't control that.

We headed to his car, I turned back in time to call Stiles' name. His cinnamon brown eyes met mine. "Thank you, again."

He seemed shocked by my appreciation, but nodded in recognition. "No, problem."  
I smiled at him. He returned the favor, which made me smile harder before turning back to Ethan.

Ethan looked at me and laughed as he opened the door for me. "Now I can really call you Red."

"Shut up, betch." I joked, using his word.

We headed off to his surprise venue.


	16. PM Me For Your Updates With Your Comment

I need every person that I promised updates and more to to email me their comments that I posted in He Knows so that I can have your PM for the next chapters.


	17. The Dinner

LYDIA'S POV:

Ethan knew exactly how to make me feel better. As soon as we headed for the boardwalk I could feel myself calm down. Not just from Stiles, but from Allison. I didn't want to have to look at her in that hospital bed. Things had never been this bad before, not with her. It was usually minor incisions in her wrist or on her leg, cuts that would go away quickly. So what was different about this time?

"Stop thinking about it. We can go see her after we're done here." Ethan told me, grabbing my hand.

"It's really nice of you to do this for me what with your grandpa in the hospital himself." I watched him grimace to himself. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head, meeting my eyes. "Not really. This is my distraction, too."

My body came around to press against his. He wrapped his arms around me as if he'd lose me. Why would he think that? Or was I just jumping to conclusions? Probably the latter. "Come on," I smiled up at him. "Wisk me away."

His body swooped down and picked me up like I was a bag of chips and not a hundred and fifteen pound girl. "Your wish is my command." He grinned, taking me to some grille, which I was glad for because I hadn't really had anything to eat today.

We talked for a while about anything besides what was going on in our lives. We talked about college and what we wanted to major in, where we'd like to visit in the world, and where we thought we'd end up. It was nice having this conversation with Ethan because it meant he cares, and since Allison and my mom were checked out I didn't have anyone to talk to.

When our food came we scarfed it down. My cheeseburger and fries were especially delicious. Ethan ordered me another order to go before paying. To be honest, I wasn't quit full and Ethan suggested we get smoothies before we started for the beach. My favorite fruits were blueberries, pineapples, mangoes, and bananas, so whenever I went to a smoothie place I tried to get something of that variety. Let's say I was satisfied with my choice because I got brain-freeze pretty quickly.

Ethan laughed at me. "I heard if you put your thumb on the roof of your mouth then it would go away quicker."

I did as he instructed and I felt all kinds of stupid. It didn't help that he was laughing at me, so I gave him the finger. His laughter died down when his eyes caught sight of something. My head followed his gaze. "What?" I saw a girl with dark hair and tan skin. She was short with a pretty smile. I turned back towards Ethan. "Who's that?"

He huffed. "Paige."

"Oh. Your ex."

She headed our way with a nervous smile. She was really cute, but that didn't make up for cheating with Ethan's brother. "Ethan," She gave him a hug.

By her fake smile at me and fake tan I knew I didn't like her. I felt a sort of protectiveness over Ethan because of what she did to him. I mean, he switched teams because of her, so it wasn't just some bad breakup. "Hi, I'm Lydia." I held my hand out for her to shake. "Ethan's girlfriend." My voice assertive. After I said that I realized I didn't know if he ever told Paige if he was gay now or not, because if he did then I was about to look stupid.

She took my hand and looked back at Ethan after dropping my hand as if it disgusted her. "Wow, you sure know how to pick them."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded, stepping into her face.

Ethan pulled me back as Paige laughed at me. "Okay, calm down." Ethan told me. He turned back to Paige. "What do you want Paige?"

She grinned up at him. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. You haven't answered any of my messages. I was worried about you, Ethan."

I gave a wry smile. "You don't get to be worried after you cheated on him with his brother."

She turned red and I enjoyed it so much I wanted to do a dance, but that would be weird. "You told her that?"

Ethan nodded. "Yeah, like she said we're together." He intertwined our hands as I smiled at her. "What that all, Paige?"

Her brown eyes rolled before heading in the direction she came.

Ethan and I shared a look before bursting out in laughter as we headed down to the beach. My heels ended up by my feet that were playing in the warm sand. Ethan did the same. He smiled down at me. "What?"

My head went to his shoulder as I gazed up into his brown eyes. "I love you."

His smile reached his eyes. "I love you, too."

A laugh bubbled out of me as he semi tackled me to the sand, planting fake kisses along my cheek and neck. I was fairly ticklish and sensitive, so I couldn't help but squirm away. "Oh my God, stop with the PDA." I laughed.

My phone buzzed.

"Who is it? Is Allison okay?" Ethan asked me.

"Yeah, it's Cora."

His brow furrowed. "Who?"

I laughed. "The pretty girl from earlier with the dark hair, she's Stiles' girlfriend."

"Oh, yeah. Why are you talking to her?" He took a sip of his strawberry banana smoothie.

I huffed. "Because we have English together and she asked me to be her partner for something. She wants me to come over to her house for dinner."

We headed back to town. Ethan dropped me off at Cora's, to our surprise it was Stiles and Isaac's house. I was so confused. How did they live together? Did she have any parents? Or was she just simply here to see Stiles?

Ethan opened my door for me. "Do you want me to come in or something?"

I didn't need to be babied, I needed to be strong. "No, but thanks for this evening. I haven't had that much fun since yesterday."

He snorted a laugh. "No, problem." He pulled me in for a hug. "Call me when you want me to pick you up, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay, thanks."

He watched me head for the door. "Love you."

A smile tugged at my lips when he said it. It was something I could get used to. "Love you, too." I said just as the door opened and Stiles was standing in the doorway with his hair wet and a towel around his waist. I didn't mean to stare, but he was way more sculpted than I thought he was. "Uh, hi."

He peered behind me where Ethan stood by his car. He looked disappointed to see it was me at the door, which deflated me. We had a moment earlier, but maybe it was all in my head. "Hey, Lydia." He moved out of the way so that I could step inside the house. He closed the door and walked me into the living room area. The house was just as huge as it appeared from the outside. The walls were white, the furniture modern and the appliances were stainless steel with wooden floors. I think the lack of color gave the appearance of more space, which was nice because I really didn't need to be standing next to Stiles with water rolling down his shirtless chest.

"Nice place." I looked around for Cora, but she wasn't in sight.

"Thanks." He stepped into view. "She's in the shower."

My cheeks flushed as I realized they were probably having hot passionate sex before I got here. I immediately turned from him. "Okay, well can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

"Can you put on some clothes?"

He laughed because he could see my flushed cheeks. "Sorry about that. I jumped out of the shower when I heard the doorbell." He headed to what I could assume was his room. After a few seconds he came back. "You don't have to stand there, you know."

While I wouldn't mind watching him change in his room, I had a feeling he wouldn't be comfortable with that. So I just sat at a chair in the isle in the kitchen and played with my fingers. Part of me couldn't believe that I was actually in Stiles' house. The other part told me I shouldn't care because he didn't seem to.

Seconds before the shower stopped Stiles appeared by the stove wearing a black shirt and dark jeans. He turned it on, then searched throughout the freezer and fridge.

"You're making dinner?" I asked.

He glanced at me before turning back to his ingredients. "Uh, yeah. Sometimes I make dinner when we're all tired of takeout. Cora usually helps, but she's occupied."

Before the opportunity slipped from me I said, "I could help you."

He looked at me. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, I want to help." I perked up. "I mean, if you're too scared to be shown up, then I understand." I walked up to him.

He grinned at me with his hand raised in surrender. "I can handle the heat, question is can you?"

"Yeah, I can." I grinned.

We started making lasagna and garlic bread, which wasn't very sophisticated. Nervousness should be racking inside me, my food from earlier should be trying to work its way back up my throat, but neither of those things were happening. From my actions of the past few days I believe that I was preparing myself for a full-fledged conversation with Stiles. The old me wouldn't have been able to handle him smiling at me without blushing so hard, and while I still blush if Stiles presents me with a smile I know how to remain calm and collected. Where I learned this skill, I didn't know, but I was truly glad for it.

Cora came out of the room a few minutes after we put the lasagna in the oven wearing a pair of blue jeans and grey shirt with black Chucks. She smiled at me. "Hey, you ready to get to work?" She glanced at my food blemished hands, then at Stiles.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Hope you like lasagna." I washed my hands in the stainless steel kitchen sink before joining Cora in what I thought would be Stiles' bedroom, but there were girly artifacts all around me. Did that mean she was living here? What kind of setup did they have? Overall, It was weird being here because I recognized the balcony where I first saw them kissing. My brain could only imagine what they had been doing on this bed.

Cora grabbed her copy of _The Iliad _just as I pulled out mine with my notebook. "Sorry about that. Stiles shouldn't have took advantage of your hands."

"No," I waved it off while deciding whether or not if I should sit on the bed. "I volunteered."

She glanced at me with a questioning brow. Did she think I was trying to make a move on Stiles? If she did, she didn't say anything about it. "You can sit on my bed, you know."

We were done within thirty minutes give or take with minimum laughter and goofing off. Cora was surprisingly funny and easy to be around, which made me want to hate her because she had what I wanted with whom I wanted it with. There was just something about her that wouldn't allow me to bring myself to hate her.

Stiles stepped through the doorway. He looked really cute in his apron and mittens. "Hey, dinner is served." He said before leaving with a parting glance at Cora.

Cora glanced at her phone with a serious brow.

"What's wrong?" I asked. When she looked like she wasn't sure if she should tell me, I went on to say, "I'm a good listener."

She shook her head to herself. "I'm sure you are, but there's some things that I need to figure out for myself."

The urge to ask if she was trying to figure out things with Stiles was so strong, but how pathetic would I sound if I pushed on? Instead I got off her bed. "Let's eat." I wasn't really hungry due to Ethan's generosity earlier at the beach, but I was eager to taste what Stiles and I had created together.

"I'll be there in a second." She started typing on her phone.

I headed for the kitchen where Stiles was setting the lasagna on the table, which had three sets of plates and silverware, along with three glasses filled with water. "Wow," I muttered.

Stiles met my eyes. "Well, I don't like to brag."

"I doubt that, Betty Croaker." I joked.

He grinned. "How sexist of you."

"If the skirt fits." I sat down at the table.

He shook his head at me before taking off his apron and mittens and setting them on the island. "Better?"

I nodded, fearing that my words would stray into the inappropriate lines set before us. He had a girlfriend for Pete's sake.

"Where's Cora?" He asked.

"She's talking to someone. She didn't look happy."

He huffed. "Great." He sat down and gestured for me to dig in. "So is Ethan picking you up or do you need a ride home? Cora has a car."

"Why? Are you trying to get rid of me?" I took a bite of the lasagna, burning my tongue and throat as it went down. The temperature was overruling the flavor.

He glanced toward the bedrooms before answering, "Nope, I just want you to be safe." He put a slice on what I assumed was Cora's plate. He stared at it for a moment.

When he said that I thought back to what Scott had been saying and how Stiles seemed to always be there as if I were a damsel in distress. Not that I was complaining, but it was weird.

Cora come out of her room only to head for the front door. "I'll be back later."

Stiles stood up. "Where are you going? I made dinner." He said in a housewife way that made me refrain from laughing.

"I'm going out, Stiles." She turned to face him. "Is that okay with you?"

He huffed before sitting down. "Be safe."

Was he telling her to be safe because of Scott? Where was she going anyway? No matter how friendly we'd been earlier she shouldn't be comfortable leaving me alone with Stiles, even though he didn't see me that way.

She left with a parting smile at us, then there was silence.

Awkward silence.

"So…" I dragged on. "This is good Lasagna, Stiles." I stuffed more into my mouth.

He assessed me shoveling piece after piece into my mouth before his lips developed a tiny grin. "Thanks. It's my specialty."

When it became clear that he was still upset about Cora leaving, I asked, "Do you want to talk about? I'm a good listener." I gave him a small smile.

Instead of answering my question, he went on to say, "If you don't mind my asking how did you and Ethan come about?"

He asked a half a second after I decided to take a huge sip of water. As a result the water went down the wrong pipe and I coughed back my life. I apologized while Stiles looked worried. "Well," I started. "He sort of just asked me out of the blue."

His brow furrowed. "And you said yes?"

I gave a small laugh because it did sound weird to the outsider. Hell, it sounded weird to me. "I mean, Ethan's different. He's really different and he cares about me."

"It seems like you care about him a lot, too." He commented. Had he been paying attention to me?

I nodded. "Yeah, I do. He's a good friend."

"Well, you two seem more than friendly."

I laughed because he would have no idea about Ethan. "I'm not sure about that. I'm not really his type."

His brow wrinkled in the cutest way. "How could _you_ not be his type? I mean, you're beautiful, so..."

My cheeks definitely reddened at his compliment as I looked into his eyes. "Thanks, you, too."

He gave me a short laugh.

How was he this comfortable calling another girl beautiful when he just had a tiff with his girlfriend? Maybe he was trying to get back at her. The awkwardness was definitely there on my end, but I was sure that Stiles didn't felt it. So I continued, "I meant, I'm really not Ethan's type. He would probably go out with you faster than he would go out with me."

He seemed confused, so I went on.

"He's gay, Stiles."

He looked like he was refraining from laughing. "Are you serious?"

I leaned forward because we were talking about someone else's personal life. As if anybody outside the house could hear us. "He did play dress up with me, and I'm assuming he was telling the truth, so yeah."

He leaned closer. "But you're dating him?"

"Yeah," I laughed. "He asked me because he wanted something serious. At his party we just clicked and I said yes because he wants guys to see him in a serious relationship. He's always around a bunch girls and with them hanging off of him and Aiden, it doesn't look good for him." I sighed. That was really complicated to explain and I didn't know if I did a good job of doing so. "Does that make sense?"

He nodded. "Yeah, kind of. But why wouldn't he just ask a guy?"

I shrugged. "He just hasn't found the right guy yet, but he knows he's gay. I met his awful ex-girlfriend today. She was the reason he switched teams."

"That's really nice of you to do that for him."

"Like I said, we clicked." I debated whether or not to tell him about the pact. Why he would want to know such personal details about I didn't know, but I was in a sharing mood. "Allison and I made a pact over the summer that we weren't going to live life in the shadows anymore, we weren't going to live in regret. That's why I went to Ethan's party and that's why I agreed to his proposition. In hindsight, I could've picked a different guy to date, but beggars can't be choosers."

"Come on, Lydia. You wouldn't have to beg, guys would just come up to you if they thought you were interested."

"Because that's how it's been happening for me since the past seventeen years." A smile tugged at my lips. "Do you remember in the fifth grade when I made you a Valentine's Day card?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't. If you gave me a VDay card I would've remembered it, but I guess that explains why you hated me."

I looked at him weird. "What are you talking about? I never hated you."

"It kind of seemed like it when we first met." He seemed saddened by it.

Well, I didn't have an explanation for that which I could share and keep my dignity intact. "I didn't know you felt that way. To be fair, I thought you hated me, too."

He gave me a weird look. "Why would you think that?"

"I mean, you kind of gave me a death stare the first day of school, and then you yelled at me at lunch, and you kind of told me you didn't want me around. So I concluded that you hated me."

He scratched his head. "Yeah, not my best moments, but I did apologize for two of those things."

I smiled.

He looked thoughtful. "I really cannot remember you ever giving me a Valentine's Day card."

"Well, I did. You kind of ripped it in half and ran away from me."

He thought about it, recognition flashing in his eyes. "That was you? I thought that was Jessica Palenski."

"Why would you think I was Jessica Palenski, who is blonde by the way?" I asked.

"She wasn't blonde back then." He surveyed by appearance, making me feel uncomfortable. "She had the same flaming locks as you did and green eyes."

"So" My fingers drummed on the arm of my chair. "If you had known it was me would you have ripped it up and ran away?"

"Definitely not." He said. "I have a thing for red heads."

"Then why'd you run away from Jessica Palenski?" I asked with a slight grin on my lips.

"Because she was weird and smelled like bologna." He confirmed with a short laugh.

His easy demeanor calmed me. "If you have a thing for redheads why are you with Cora?"

He looked away from me, as if he were embarrassed. It was a few long seconds before he answered, "I know it may seem like we're together, but we're not. We're best friends."

"So," My lips pursed on my own. "You kiss all your best friends?"

"Why? Wanna be best friends?" He wiggled his brows so suggestively that I knew he was joking.

I laughed, then shook my head. "Seriously, what's going on with you two? I've seen some heavy liplocking."

He huffed. "I don't know how to explain this without sounding like a total dick, but we just sometimes make out." He shook his head. "It was kind of my fault actually."

"So you made the first move?"

He met my eyes. "Sort of. There was hair flying and perfume involved and I misread the situation. Not that there was a situation because we didn't like each other then. Now I don't know what's going on between us."

"So you weren't having hot passionate sex just before I came?" I blurted out without thinking.

He looked surprised before bursting out in laughter. "Not that I'm aware of. Do you know something that I don't?"

"No, I just assumed because you answered the door in a towel all wet like and Cora was still in the shower. Which is also weird, do you live together?"

He nodded, answering my question, then asking his own. "Does it seem like we're together?"

I thought about it. "Looks can be deceiving, obviously. I mean, you seem close…enough to sometimes kiss." I tried to suppress my laughter at the shocked face he was giving me, but I couldn't. "I'm sorry."

He tried to appear angry, but was failing. "Go ahead, laugh at my expense."

I composed myself. "Serious answer, yeah. It looked like you were together. Why are you asking me about this? Why aren't you off being with her?"

He looked me directly in the eyes. "Cora and I could never work. She's kind of in love with Isaac."

I wasn't sure if I hid my shock well enough or not, but I was too concerned with this new information. Cora and Isaac? I mean, she was always with Stiles. At least, she was when Allison and I saw them together. If she loved Isaac then why was she hooking up with Stiles when they all lived under the same roof? Hopefully, I'd find out later. "What about you?" I asked.

"Am I in love with Isaac?" He laughed at my serious expression. "No, but if I was that would be a really weird love triangle."

My head nodded in agreement. "I meant did you fall in love with her?"

He thought about it, really thought about it before looking at me again. "Despite how much our friendship has shifted lately, I'm not in love with her. Sometimes I wish I was though."

My brow rose. "Why?"

"It would be easier that way. We wouldn't have to think about it, no one would get hurt."

"How do you know?"

"I don't," He answered simply. "But I have feelings for someone else." He got up to pour himself another cup of coffee. He glanced at me. "Do you want some more?"

Hope sprung inside of me. Despite the fact that I doubted his feelings were for me, I still might have a chance if his other love doesn't work out. Previous questions flooded me as I debated his offer. "Yeah," I decided. "I do because I want some real answers now."

He brought the pot over to us before sitting down. "What do you want to know?"


End file.
